Lost Hope
by GatorSam
Summary: After defeating Apocalymon, TK and his mother move to France and TK is not allowed to return back to Odaiba. After four years, he's struck with tragedy landing him in the Dark Ocean. Meanwhile, Davis, Yolei, and Cody join the digidestineds as they try to figure out what to do about this new character who calls himself the Digimon Emperor without TK. Rated T to be safe. -FINISHED-
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I will probably never own digimon, just saying.

Another story! Sorry, but I'm not very good at summaries. That, and I don't want to give this story away too soon. Please review!

(NOTE: I have edited this chapter so please be sure to read it!)

* * *

Chapter 1:

TK was extremely sad, but he hadn't cried. That was one thing that he was very proud of himself for. All of the adventures he had gone through in the Digital World helped him grow up really fast. Although at first he was still a cry baby, he had matured over their time in the Digital World. Crying or not, however, didn't mean that he still wasn't sad.

They had just got back from the Digital World a week ago. TK was glad that it was all over because now he could go back to being a "normal" kid again. He looked forward to growing up with his family and his new friends that he had made over the summer, especially Kari, the only digidestined who also was seven years old. What his mom had told him when he got home, though, crushed all of his expectations.

The little blonde boy looked up at his mother hoping that she would start laughing and say that this was all a joke, but she held her serious face. What she said had made sense and deep down he knew that she was telling him the truth, but he couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe that while Myotismon was in the real world he had destroyed his mom's work building. He didn't want to believe that she didn't have a job anymore and that they needed to move. He didn't want to believe that they were going to be living with his grandparents in France, family he barely even knew. It just couldn't be true.

* * *

(One Year Later)

TK walked into his grandparents' mansion not expecting what was going to happen. He had just got back from visiting Odaiba. His mom only travelled with him if it were a holiday visit such as Christmas; this was just a random visit. It was ironic how it happened, but when TK arrived he found that his friends were dealing with another Digital World crisis; it was the battle against Diaboromon. When he finally was back in Odaiba, he quickly found his friends and started helping as much as he could. While they were battling Diaboromon, he had got hurt. It wasn't bad, but he had bruises on his arms and legs and there were a couple of cuts on his face. TK knew that his mom disapproved of him dealing with "this Digi… whatever stuff" because of what had happened the summer of their first adventure. When she found out that something had happened again that had caused TK to get hurt then she was bound to be upset. When he finally found his mom in the mansion, he realized that upset was an understatement.

"What in the world happened to you? It better not have been that Digi… whatever stuff."

TK blushed because that's exactly what it was.

"It was, wasn't it? That's it, the last straw. I'm done with you dealing with that stuff. You will have no more of it!"

"Mom, what are you talkin…"

"What I mean is that I am not letting you go back to Odaiba."

TK started to object, but her mom cut across,

"I don't care to hear what you have to say. All this digi… whatever stuff has done is cause you harm. I am not letting you go back."

"What about my friends? What about Patamon? What about Matt and dad? You can't keep me away from them!"

"Oh yes I can, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. It's for your own good, TK."

TK stormed off into his room slamming the door.

* * *

(Four Years Later)

TK shook his head as he tried to regain his focus. He looked up at the chalkboard which was covered in French words that TK never would've been able to understand five years ago when they had first moved there. It was amazing how well he was able to pick up on the language; by now it seemed like he had spoken and read French his entire life. It was as if his life in Japan was all just a dream, and sometimes TK believed that it was. What, he hadn't seen his father, Matt, or any of the other digidestineds for four years now? Of course it all seemed like a dream, but he knew it wasn't. He luckily had been allowed to call his family as much as he wanted to, but as time went along he talked less and less to his family. He hadn't talked to them for a month now, or was it two months? It didn't matter; he was probably dead to them.

He dug through his bag and finally found the picture of him and all the other digidestineds. It was the one right before they had left the Digital World. TK laughed as he saw himself, a tiny blonde boy with a big, hopeful smile on his face. He wore that silly, green baseball cap on his head, and his partner, Patamon was perched on top of his head. He definitely had changed over the years. He still was blonde, go figure, but he had stopped wearing a hat. Nowadays he rarely smiled because there was nothing to be happy about. He no longer had his friends, his brother, or even his partner to help cheer him up. He used to be so full of hope, happiness, and joy, but now it seemed like he had become the exact opposite.

He moved his attention from him to Patamon. He wondered how the little guy was doing. The last time he saw him was when he had gone back to Odaiba and helped defeat Diaboromon. He missed his digital partner. From there, TK looked at his brother who stood next to his partner, Gabumon, and his best friend Tai. TK laughed as he remembered all the times that the two, now best friends, had fought so much when they were on their adventure. They used to get into such bitter fights too; Matt had even fought Tai with MetalGarurumon. That was one event that was really scary to watch. From there, he looked down to Kari who was standing right next to TK with her cat digimon, Gatomon. TK instantly was filled with light and happiness as he looked at the girl. They had been the best of friends.

Once he couldn't stand to look at the picture anymore because of the sadness that was filling him, he threw it back into his bag and looked up at the clock. They only had one more minute before the bell…

The bell rang and TK walked to his locker, got his supplies, and walked out of the school. The weekend had finally come and he was happy for it, not that he did anything over the weekends. TK didn't have friends to hang out with because over the years he had become an extremely shy, quiet person. He never talked unless he was spoken to, therefore, he rarely talked to anybody. TK knew that he shouldn't let his past rule him, but he couldn't help himself. 'If I have friends again, then what if I have to move again and I lose all of them?' No, TK definitely thought it was better for him not to have any friends.

He finally arrived at his grandparents' mansion. It was a marvelous sight to see as it was covered in snow. Snow covered the whole city giving it a fresh white coating. The late March snowstorm had brought a gusting wind and freezing temperatures. TK loved being outside in the winter and snow, but he was happy to be home and enter the warm mansion.

"Hello?"

He called out, expecting someone to answer him and greet him right away, but no one came. The mansion was completely empty save for him. Usually his mother and grandparents were back from their Saturday shopping day by the time he got home from school. TK didn't worry about it, though, thinking that they were just running a little late because of the bad road conditions.

He laid down on the couch in the family room and turned on the TV. He scanned through the channels for a good ten minutes, but found nothing worthwhile to watch. He sighed and rummaged through his school bag looking for his iPod. His hand finally found it and he plopped back onto the couch with it. He put in one ear-bud and was about to put the other in when the door bell rang. 'That must be them,' he thought, 'but then why don't they just use their key to get in the door?' TK ignored the bell, but when it kept ringing TK got up and moved to the front door. He opened the door and was shocked to find a policeman standing in front of him. Instantly becoming nervous, TK asked,

"Uh, can I help you sir?"

"Yes, are you Takeru Takaishi?"

"Yes I am."

"I'm afraid I have bad news for you son. You're mother and grandparents were in an accident. They got hit by a bus that had lost control. The car was crushed on impact and it sent the vehicle rolling. No one survived the crash. I'm so sorry. We will let you stay here until we contact your father and let him know what has happened. Once again, I'm sorry."

With that the police officer walked into the chilling wind and entered his car. The engine started and the officer drove away. TK closed the door, tears forming in his eyes. Thoughts filled his mind.

'Did this really just happen?'

'Now they're gone too?'

'Surely death is better than what my life's been.'

At that last thought TK closed his tear filled eyes. He sobbed and became ashamed of how desperate he was. No one was there to comfort him, but he was used to that by now. His mind was the only the only thing that was there to help him. This, though, was even so overwhelmed that it did not comfort him at all. 'Maybe it'd just be best if I died. Death sure seems sweeter than all this.'

TK stayed in that state for a good minute or two before opening his eyes, planning on making his way to his room. When he opened his eyes, though, he found himself no longer in his grandparent's mansion. Water surrounded him and he recognized that he was on a beach. This beach, though, was none that he had ever been to. There was no color or life in this place at all. Everything was black and gray and dreary. Was it just him, or was he unable to think of anything happy while he was in this place? His sad thoughts seemed to intensify.

He needed to get out of this place, but what was the point? Wasn't this place better than France? In France he didn't have his dad or Matt, he didn't have his friends, and now he didn't have his mother or grandparents. Whenever he was in France he never was happy. He constantly was reminded of his old life in Odaiba when he was there. This place didn't remind him of his old life at all. What was the point, then, of leaving this place?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own digmon!

Chapter 2! Thanks for the reviews and PM's that I've got for the rewrite of the first chapter. Thank you for pointing out the flaws in the first write of the chapter. It sounds like the rewrite was much better and that you all liked it more. Hope you enjoy this chapter and please review! Reviews only make me a better writer, and they urge me to write more!

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Chapter 2:

Kari laid down on her bed while her digimon partner got out of her bag that she had to hide in.

"Kari, you need to get a bigger bag or something. I might be becoming catstrophobic."

Kari laughed at her partner. "It's claustrophobic, silly."

"Whatever." Gatomon looked at her exhausted partner. Kari looked extremely tired and a little sad which was weird from the usually optimistic girl. Kari was always filled up with light and happiness, but today's events had got her down for some reason, and Gatomon was going to get to the bottom of it.

Kari sighed as she took off her socks and placed an ice bag on her sore ankle. She thought she sprained her ankle as she ran away from the Monochromon that was turned evil by the dark ring earlier today. The Monochromon had come so close to stomping on her, but Davis and Flamedramon had saved them just in the nick of time. Tai hadn't been able to save her and she thought that she was dead for sure. If TK were there she definitely would've been safe, but he wasn't there anymore to protect her like he used to. It was only by luck that she had survived that day.

"Kari, what's the matter?"

"It's… it's just my ankle, Gatomon. That's all," she lied to her partner.

"You can't lie to me; I know you have more on your mind than your ankle right now."

"Fine… I'm just shaken up a bit. I definitely wasn't expecting today to happen. I mean, three new digidestineds, that's crazy. And then this Digimon Emperor character with his dark rings and control spires. It reminds me of Devimon and his black gears which were able to turn even the nicest of digimon into savage beasts. Today was just a very unexpected day."

Gatomon nodded. It definitely had been a shocker of a day for her too, but as she continued to look at her partner and she noticed that this wasn't the only thing that was bothering her partner.

"What else is wrong Kari."

Kari let out another sigh. She never had been able to hide anything from Gatomon. She and Tai were the only ones that knew her well enough to know when something was really bothering her. TK also had that effect too, key word being had. She winced at the thought of the boy, well, young adult. She found it hard to believe that he was the same age as her and was no longer the little, innocent blonde boy she had known growing up.

"It's.. it's just…" she hesitated and then continued, "I'm scared Gatomon. These control spires prevent you guys from digivolving, and without you're tail ring you aren't as strong as you used to be."

"That doesn't mean that I can't protect you still." Gatomon said, a little hurt by Kari's words.

"I know, but today… today I got lucky. Monochromon should've gave me a much worse injury than this sprained ankle. Tai couldn't save me. And… and TK wasn't there to save me like he always does. I mean, used to. The only reason we were able to get out of there is because Davis got lucky with that armor digivolution. It just… was a real eye opener I guess."

So this was what her partner had been worrying about this whole time. She understood why her partner was like this because she had worried about it herself. Gatomon was unable to protect her partner today, and she couldn't forgive herself for it. What, with her tail ring gone and with the control spires preventing her from digivolving, she herself was as defenseless as a poor kitten. How did she expect to protect Kari as well? But she couldn't worry about it. Her partner needed her to be happy and to offer her some hope, something that she had been missing for nearly four years now.

"We'll find out a way around these control spires. Kari, I'll always be there for you, and you know that. We're all here for you. Besides, now we have three more digidestineds to look after you. You're in good hands, Kari."

Kari smiled at her partner's attempt to cheer her up. Gatomon, though, didn't quite fill her with as much hope as TK had been able to. She still remembered their last fight which was against Diaboromon. She was so scared that they weren't going to be able to stop the evil digimon. TK, though, was able to give her hope and helped give her the will and strength to fight. Her smile faded thinking back on the event; it was the last time she had seen him. 'Oh TK,' she thought to herself, 'please come back. I need you.'

She fake smiled at her partner and started petting her head as she sat down next to her. Kari allowed her mind to wander as the night grew older. Then, when her ankle was too cold to have the ice on any longer, she dropped the ice onto the floor with a towel wrapped around it so it wouldn't leak. She limped over to the light switch and turned the lights off. She drew back the covers of her bed and crawled inside along with her partner. She only hoped she'd be able to get some sleep tonight, and, surprisingly, her tired eyes shut, and before she knew it her mind was lost in the world of dreams.

* * *

"Ken… it's getting late. Shouldn't you be heading back to your world?"

'This is my world,' he thought to himself.

He shook his head, not taking the time to respond to the pathetic worm-like digimon. There was something he needed to figure out; how was the blue dragon digimon able to digivolve even with a control spire in the area? Did it have to do with the newer versions of the digivice? Were his control spires just not strong enough? If he was able to get his hands on the new digivices would he be able to find out a way to stop this new digivolution?

Wormon looked at his friend, well, master now, in disappointment. What had happened to the little, innocent boy he used to know so many years ago? Could this possibly be the same caring boy that he thought he knew? Yes, it definitely was the same boy even if there were some major differences between the two Ken's he knew.

The Ken he had known was a sweet, caring boy. The violet-haired boy always worried about the safety of his friends and never once thought of causing harm to someone or something else. The little boy always was reluctant to fight and did his best to avoid it. The Ken that sat in his supposed "throne" was the exact opposite. His new uniform was the first difference; the uniform seemed to give off an evil feeling. Ken had grown a lot over the past few years, and apparently his evil nature had grown as well. Wormon didn't know what had happened to Ken, but he was a completely new person. He didn't care at all about any of the digimon, not even Wormon. His first option was to cause pain on others, even other humans like him. Ken's face had never smiled unless it was his evil smirk, and his sweet laughter had become that of a madman. Despite these differences, however, Wormon continued to believe that the old Ken was still there deep down inside of him and he never gave up hope that the old Ken would eventually overrule this new Ken.

Wormon tried again to get through to his partner.

"Ken, please don't ignore me like this. You have to get back to your world before your parents start to worry about you."

He was about to shout back an aggravated response to not being called Digimon Emperor or master when, all of a sudden, a beeping noise went off. The Digimon Emperor, a great name that he was proud of himself for coming up with, looked at the machines, buttons, and screens in front of him. He pushed a few buttons and a holographic map of the Digital World popped up. He didn't find what he was looking for, though, which disturbed him.

"That's strange. That noise means there's someone trespassing in my world, but the map is showing that no one is here. Hmmmm."

He kept the map of the Digital World up as he thought of a way to stop the new digivolution, armor digivolution, and to plan his next attack strategy against the digidestineds. When nothing popped up on the map after fifteen minutes or so, he yawned and decided that it really was time to leave the Digital World. He got out of his throne and walked to the computer that was in the room.

"Digiport open. Wormon, I order you to let me know if anything pops up on that map."

"Yes, Ken."

"That's master to you!"

With that, he left the Digital World aggravated by his pathetic partner and confused about the intruder, but ready for the next time the digidestineds went back to the Digital World.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Now, before the chapter starts, time to address some reviews

1. First off, it has been a while since I've watched the first two seasons of Digimon, so I'm going off of what I remember. It does read as if Kari was there when the whole Devimon thing was happening. I know she wasn't there, so I'm going to base what she says about the events off of what the digidestineds have told her about it.

2. I was unaware that they didn't know about the control spires yet, but as I watched the first episode over again I realize that they really didn't know about the control spires yet. I'm sorry for these little errors in the story, and I apologize for any other ones that I may or may not make as I continue writing. Please feel free to point them out, because if they are major plot holes then I will need to fix them.

3. Thank you all for taking the time to review. It really does mean a lot to me!

Sorry, but this is another shorter chapter. I promise the next one will be longer than the last two, and I promise that TK will appear in the next chapter. Ok, enough chitter-chatter and let's get on with the story.

* * *

Chapter 3:

Matt was so overwhelmed with emotions. If what this police officer was telling him over the phone was true, then that meant that his mother, and his grandparents, were dead. His mother was dead. When was even the last time that he had seen his mother? It had been five years ago that her and TK had moved to France, and she hadn't made as many visits back to Odaiba as TK had. Now that he thought about it, he realized he hadn't seen his mother since two Christmas's ago, a little more than a year and a half ago. He definitely was upset at his mother for leaving and not visiting more often, but, the truth was that he still loved his mom to death and he had missed her so much. Now, though, she was gone for forever.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm afraid I have even more bad news for you."

Matt didn't respond. More bad news? What else could have happened?

"I hate to say it but your brother, Takeru, has gone missing."

"WHAT?!"

"He was at school the day of the accident, and an officer went to your grandparents' mansion when he found out about the accident to tell him the news. When we returned to the mansion later, however, he was missing. The weird thing was that when we searched the mansion, all of your brother's belongings were still in the mansion, including his shoes and his coat. It's the middle of winter, and he wouldn't go out in the cold without those things."

TK was missing, too, and, by the sound of it, he hadn't run away either. Could someone have kidnapped him, or, even worse, could some_thing_ have kidnapped him. Where was he now, and was he ok?

"I suppose you don't have any idea where your brother could have run off to."

"No, I'm sorry. It's been a couple months or so since I've last talked to him."

"I see. Well, we will continue to search the city for your brother and we will let you know if we find out any new information. Once again, I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you sir."

With that he hung up the phone. He grasped the side of the kitchen table to help support him. So much had been going on already. A new foe, the Digimon Emperor, had risen and was working his evil plan out right now. The Digimon Emperor had been able to use his dark digivice to create these control spires which could somehow prevent the older digidestineds' partners from digivolving. Also, the "Emperor" had created dark rings that could turn any digimon, no matter how nice of a digimon, into a savage beast. He had learned that out when Tai and Izzy had told him about the Monochromon that had attacked them and Kari had injured herself. He also was just as confused as they were about this new digivolution that one of the three new digidestineds's partners had been able to do in order to destroy the dark ring. And, just when Matt thought this week couldn't get any worse, he received the phone call he just hung up from.

"This week can't get any crazier?" he said out loud to himself. A couple of days later, however, he realized that what he had said was completely, one hundred percent false.

* * *

"Patamon! We have to get out of here!"

The orange and cream digimon flew as fast as he could away from the imposing threat that was headed right for him. He flapped his wings as fast as he could as he maneuvered around the trees in the forest. In front of him was Tentomon flying as fast as he could. Patamon followed Tentomon for a good while, and Tentomon then stopped. Patamon nearly flew right into the insectoid digimon, but, luckily, he was able to stop right before plowing into the digimon.

"What is it Tentomon?"

"I don't hear Airdramon anymore. Maybe the Digimon Emperor stopped pursuing us?"

"Spinning Needle!"

The two digimon both dodged the air blast that was sent from them from up above. As they flew away they could hear the Digimon Emperor laughing evilly.

"You can run all you want, but I will catch you, and you will be my slaves."

"Patamon, quick, fly into this tree."

Patamon looked at Tentomon with an expression that said "What the….?"

Patamon watched as his friend flew right into a tree in front of them. The tree seemed to swallow up the digimon and Tentomon had disappeared. Patamon didn't know what to do, and remained motionless as he hovered in front of the tree Tentomon had flown into.

"Spinning Needle!"

Patamon flew at full speed towards the tree. He winced as he hit the tree, expecting to run into the solid tree, but instead he had literally flown into the tree. He looked around and saw that Tentomon was sitting on the ground.

"Tentomon, what is this?"

"It's a fort tree. They are randomly scattered throughout the forest in case digimon need to hide like we do right now."

"How did you know that this was a fort tree and not a real tree?"

"When I first met Izzy many years ago we hid in this exact tree so we could hide from Kuwagamon."

"I see."

The two digimon then sat in silence as they listened for Airdramon and the Digimon Emperor. They heard them fly by a couple of times, and they could hear the Emperor shouting out taunts at them to come out from their hiding spot. After ten minutes or so of not hearing them, Patamon and Tentomon decided it was safe to leave the fort tree. Once they left the fort tree, they were very cautious, ready to start flying away in case the Emperor started chasing them around again. He never came, however, and the two digimon relaxed.

"That was pretty close. It's a good thing you knew about that fort tree or else we'd probably be working for the Digimon Emperor right now."

"You got that right. Well, I have to… Patamon what's wrong?"

Patamon flew to the ground and stood up closing his eyes. He had just felt something, what exactly he did not know. It felt like… a presence. It felt like _his_ presence. Patamon was confused at first because he hadn't felt his partner's presence for a little under four years now, but he was certain that it was TK. TK was in the Digital World somewhere.

"Hello? Earth to Patamon?"

Patamon shook his head, forcing his mind to stop concentrating, and he responded,

"I don't know where, but TK is in the Digital World. I have a feeling that he's somewhere close by. I got to go find him Tentomon."

"TK? Are you sure? He hasn't been here for four yea…"

"I know Tentomon, but, I'm positive that it's him. I must find him."

Tentomon still seemed a bit uncertain, but he then nodded.

"If you're certain it's TK, then you are right; you need to go looking for him. Just, be careful Patamon. The Digimon Emperor is still out there, you know, and it wouldn't do anyone any good if you became his slave."

"I won't let that happen Tentomon."

"Good. Well, go find him. I'll tell the others where you've gone."

"See you Tentomon."

"Good luck."

With that Patamon flew through the woods not knowing where exactly to look for his digidestined partner. He flew, however, with a renewed sense of hope and happiness that he hadn't felt for four years now. His digimon partner was finally back in the Digital World. He smiled as he thought to himself, 'TK is finally back!'


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter. As promised, here is a longer chapter and TK is in it! Hope you all enjoy it and please review!

* * *

Chapter 4:

The sadness had not left me as hoped it would. This place just didn't seem to allow any happiness or hope to survive in its borders. He had no idea how long he had been stuck in this dark world for because there was no sun that rose and fell to signify the start and end of a new day. In fact, there was no light or color in this world at all. He had assumed that where he was at was definitely not the real world and he automatically thought that it was the Digital World. This world had many similarities to the Digital World. For example, the beach, where he was at when he first came to this place, looked very similar to the beach that they had fought Seadramon in so many years ago. Also, TK couldn't shake off the feeling that he recognized certain parts of the forest in this dark world from his adventures in the Digital World when he first got there. This was why he thought that this dark world had to do something with the Digital World, but at the same time he knew that it wasn't exactly the Digital World either. How could it be? He had not come across any digimon while he had been there, and then there was the fact that everything was like fifteen shades darker than it should've been. To sum it all up, TK basically had no idea where he was at.

Spending days, at least TK had thought it had been days, alone in a different world can do things to you. TK had found that out the hard way. Sure, in France TK hadn't really been the happiest of all people, but he still managed to have hope deep down inside him that everything was going to be all right somehow. Then again, that was who he was, the child of hope. But, as he continued to find out the more time he was there in the dark world, hope did not have a place in this world. It was as if this place killed all hopes and happiness leaving place for only sadness and hopelessness. TK had come to this realization, and he was scared out of his mind by it. He was the child of hope, so, if this world killed all hope, what was going to happen to him? As he walked through the dark world, he had become exhausted. The hope that he had said was deep down inside him was slowly dying off. TK had been visited by thoughts of suicide and other terrible, disturbing thoughts as he travelled through this world. Yes, this world was definitely not the place for the child of hope.

He saw a clearing through the trees that were clustered in the forest he had walked through for who-knows-how-long. TK pushed the low tree branches out of his way and plowed through the bushes and vines trying to entangle his angles. Finally, he reached the clearing and walked out into the open not knowing what to expect. He sighed as he saw the same dark ocean in front of him. All of this walking had got him nowhere but back to where he had started in the first place. How was he going to get out of this world?

'It's hopeless,' he thought to himself, 'There's nothing that I can do to get out of here.'

TK sighed again. He really wanted to hope that he was wrong. He always used to be so full of hope when he was younger. Even when times seemed completely hopeless, like when he and Kari were the only ones left to battle Piedmon, he always was able to keep his hope and get through the tough times. He wanted that; he wanted to go back in time and be that smiling, hope-filled little blonde boy, but that was impossible. That TK was there and now was gone, leaving a hopeless, older, and depressed TK in its place. He didn't want to believe that he was going to die in this dark world, but that was reality unless he could get out of this dark world.

He decided that standing on the beach wasn't going to get him anywhere and he knew that he had to keep walking. The problem, though, was that TK was completely exhausted. He didn't have the will to keep going on, and his muscles were telling him he needed to rest.

"Come on TK. You need to get out of here. Let's keep going."

He finally was able to pick up his legs and start walking again. He entered the forest and was back to walking while thoughts filled his mind. He half smiled as he realized that he had just talked to himself. He concluded that he had officially gone crazy.

Time went on as TK continued to walk through the forest of this dark world with not a lick of a clue as to where he was going. He had no idea how to even get out of the world or, worse yet, if there was a way to get out of this world. As far as he knew, he was trapped in this world, and this didn't exactly lift his mood.

TK jumped in shock as he heard a rustling in the bushes and leaves that filled the forest. He hadn't heard or seen any sort of life the time that he had been there. He had to decide whether or not to go looking for the source of the noise. It could either be someone or something that was trying to help him, or it could be someone/thing that would hurt him. TK decided that looking for the source of the noise would at least give him something to do, so he chased after the spot where he heard the noise. As he looked around he didn't see anything, nothing at all. He sighed as he realized it was probably nothing and that his mind was just playing games with him. Just when he was about to give up looking for the noise, he heard what sounded like a strong, rushing wind. The noise was followed by the sound of trees falling. TK looked all around him, but he didn't see anything which meant that whatever had happened was pretty far away.

He couldn't give up now, though. Curiosity got the better of him and he found new strength and hope as he ran towards the noise. As he got closer, he heard another rush of wind and he heard more trees fall. This time he was getting closer to the sound. Then the sound came again, and he slowly started to realize that whatever was causing the noise was heading right for him. He stopped and he finally saw what was causing the noise, and he couldn't believe his eyes as he saw something that actually had color to it.

Flying right at him was an orange and cream-colored cross between a bat and a guinea pig. It had been so many years, but TK still recognized his digimon partner right away.

"Patamon!"

Patamon didn't stop or even act like he had heard TK and continued to fly right at him.

"Patamon?"

The digimon had a tired and scared look on his face as he flew as fast as his wings could take him. TK wondered what was chasing his partner, and as another gust of air was shot down towards the ground TK looked up into the sky to see the digimon that was chasing his partner. Airdramon was looking down into the forest trying to find Patamon and hit him with one of his attacks. TK found this to be weird; digimon didn't really attack each other (unless they were evil digimon, but Airdramon wasn't typically an evil digimon) unless there was a very good reason. He looked up angrily at the digimon that was causing harm to his partner and was surprised to see a human riding on top of the digimon.

If he wasn't in the dark world where all happiness was extinguished, he would've laughed at the sight of the boy. Even though it was hard to see the boy, TK could tell that he was a teenager, probably around his own age, and he had ridiculous looking blue hair. He also wore a blue and yellow cape with blue pants and yellow and purple sunglasses. His confusion, though, was added as he saw that the boy had a whip in his hand and had an evil smirk on his face. Who did this kid think he was? Some sort of ruler or something? He also held a black circular sort of thing in his other hand.

He then looked at the Airdramon who he had assumed was the boy's partner and he saw something that he didn't realize at his first glance of the digimon. Airdramon had dark red eyes and showed its teeth as if it were anticipating the capture of his prey. There also was what looked like a dark ring circling the digimon's body. This definitely was not something normal, and TK realized that the dark ring-thing looked like the one the kid had in his hand. Could this dark ring be controlling the Airdramon, and was this kid planning on trying to put one of those things on Patamon?

TK wasn't about to let that happen and he ran off after the chase that was happening; they had flown past him as he was observing them. He ran as fast he could, but he found it hard to keep up with the digimon and the kid. Digimon, unfortunately, were pretty much faster than humans, especially flying digimon. TK also had problems avoiding all the branches, bushes, and vines that had tried their best to trip him and give him the hardest time as he tried to chase after the digimon. He kept his eyes on his partner as he tried to catch up with him. He watched as his partner quickly took a turn and flew lower to the ground. The Airdramon and the goofy-looking kid stopped immediately. He couldn't see what the two were doing, but the kid and digimon flew off in a completely different direction at a high-speed. In a matter of seconds they were long gone and TK was at the spot where his partner had taken his turn. He instantly saw his partner perched on top of a tree branch about seven feet high or so. Patamon was clearly exhausted from the chase and was panting heavily as he rested. TK instantly felt hope rise up inside of him.

"Patamon?" he said smiling at the surprise that was bound to be evident on his partner's face. TK frowned, though, and his hopes were extinguished as his partner didn't even flinch.

"Patamon? It's me, TK."

All the digimon did was blink and continue to pant, softer now, though. Tears filled his eyes. Could Patamon really not hear him? What was wrong?

"PATAMON!" he said as his voice cracked between tears.

This time Patamon raised his head and looked around him in confusion. TK watched as worry and confusion spilled over his partner's face. Then, Patamon's and TK's eyes met and they held each other's gaze for a good while. Patamon looked even more confused and said,

"TK?"

"Patamon! It's me! TK!"

Patamon continued to stare right at TK, but then his partner shook his head and closed his eyes as he said,

"I must be hearing things or something."

The digimon sighed and after a good couple of minutes he had fallen asleep. TK continued to cry as he stared at his partner digimon, his best friend, sleeping; acting as if his long-lost partner was not standing right before him.

* * *

Now they were done for. This was only his second day being in the Digital World and he already was about to lose his life. He gulped as he looked down. That would be one nasty fall if the Digimon Emperor had decided to release him. Davis didn't even want to try to free himself from the metal straps that were holding him to the rock behind him. He looked across to the other side where his digimon partner, Veemon, was hanging as well. Davis definitely hadn't signed up for this; this was intense, real, and life-threatening stuff. He was too young to die.

"So, have you decided that you are willingly going to give up and become my slaves?"

Davis growled low as he looked up to the Digimon Emperor who was standing on safe ground high up above him.

"I will never work for you."

"Well, that's too bad because you're digimon is going to work for me."

"You got that wrong, buddy boy. I will never work for you."

"Shut up, you pathetic digimon. Besides, you won't have a choice once you have this dark ring on you."

Davis watched in horror as the Digimon Emperor released a dark ring that flew right for Veemon.

"Uhh… Davis, do you have any ideas?"

"No, but I do. Tempest Wing."

Beams of red energy flew for the dark ring which disintegrated as soon as they came into contact with the dark ring. Davis looked and saw a digimon with red fur and a silver helmet thing on its head. On the digimon's back was Yolei, the purple-haired new digidestineds with the huge glasses. He flinched thinking he was going to be hit, but the beams came into contact with the metal straps that were holding him to the cliff. He yelled as he started free-falling. His partner was also falling, but then Yolei and the digimon had caught them in mid-air and flew them to safe ground.

"What are you doing here?" the Digimon Emperor shouted out, clearly angered.

"Here to save our friend of course."

"Argh! Snimon! Drimogeomon. Mojyamon! Attack!"

"Veemon! Armor Digivolve!"

"Right."

A white and red light came from his upraised digivice and his partner started glowing as he changed forms into Flamedramon. Davis definitely not used to how Veemon could change into a fire-warrior-thing digimon just like that. He didn't have time to think, however, as a big, round digimon came running up to them and threw a huge icicle at them. Flamedramon just laughed as his fists started to glow red. He caught the icicle which melted instantly.

"Fire against ice? Fire always wins!"

He sent five fireballs from his claws towards the big digimon. The digimon quickly caught fire, but the fire just as quickly was put out. When they looked at the digimon, there was no longer a dark ring on the digimon.

* * *

"I guess I should've expected that this wasn't going to be that easy. But, you want to know the good news Wormon?"

"I love good news!"

"There no longer are going to be any surprises. The old group of digidestineds cannot digivolve, and all the newer digidestineds have already digivolved, so I know exactly what to expect. I will be able to capture the digidestineds and make them my slaves as I expand my reign over the Digital World."

Wormon sighed. Was this really what his partner had wanted?

"But I can't believe we weren't able to capture that Patamon. We were so close too."

"Why are you so interested in that Patamon, Ken?"

"Don't call me Ken, and isn't it obvious. That Patamon has a human partner and therefore is very strong. If I can capture… I mean, when I capture it, it will help me defeat the other digidestineds and allow me to control the Digital World."

Wormon couldn't help but feel sorry for the Patamon. He knew that he would hate to be chased constantly around the whole Digital World.

"I wonder why that Patamon isn't with the other digidestined's digimon. He was with that Tentomon just yesterday, but today he was nowhere near any of the other digimon. Well, not that it matters. Anyways, it's getting late and I need to head back to my world."

"Bye Ken."

He was about to fire back at not being called master, but he couldn't because of the good mood he was in. He was finally going to be able to defeat the digidestineds. They no longer had any more surprises up their sleeves. Tomorrow was going to be the day that they all became he slaves. He laughed evilly as he walked to the computer and said "Digiport open" and was transferred back to the real world.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I sadly have to say that I do not own digimon.

Phew! This was a long chapter. Just to let you know I reread the first four chapters and corrected the misspellings and grammatical errors I made. I did not change anything that happened in the story, though, so you don't have to reread them. Also, to address a review from the last chapter: I was not trying to say that the Emperor was using dark spirals. I'm sorry if it read that way, but the Digimon Emperor doesn't have any dark spirals, yet. Also, from this point on in the story I may use bits and pieces of what happened in the actual digimon series for parts of the story, but I'm going to start moving away from using the season's events. So, if something happens that doesn't match up with the original digimon season then that is the reason for it. As always, please review, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 5:

"Why don't we start putting pillows down in front of the computer?"  
"Yeah, I don't want to fall on this hard floor every time we come back to the real world."

They all got onto their feet. They had just returned from the Digital World where they had encountered another close call against the Digimon Emperor. Luckily they were able to find Yolei and Cody's digimon partners, Armadilomon and Hawkmon, along with their digi-eggs. The two new digimon had been able to digivolve despite the control spire in the area just like Davis had when he saved Kari. The digivolved digimon had been able to free Davis and the three digimon destroyed the dark rings on the Digimon Empreror's slaves. Kari was glad that they had been able to save the digimon, but she still was disturbed that she hadn't been able to do anything to help. None of the older digidestineds, Sora and Izzy, had been able to help at all either, and this was really starting to bother all of them.

She was forced to stop her thoughts as she heard Yolei scream. She looked at her friend, worried for her safety.

"What is this thing?" Yolei asked addressing what looked like a pink ball of fluff with a beak and a red feather sticking up from the top of its head.

"Yolei, I am offended. My name is Poromon. I'm your partner."

"Oh, you mean you changed forms like you did when you armor digivolved to Halsemon?"

"Exactly!"

"I take it, then, that you are Armadilomon?"

"Well, I'm actually Upamon, but yes."

"And I'm DemiVeemon!"

"They changed into their in-training forms so that they can conserve their energy," Gatomon explained to the new digidestineds.

Izzy, the older red-haired boy, nodded and added, "Yes, the real world is a harder place for digimon to stay in. This world takes more energy to live in for them. So to counteract this they changed into a form that doesn't take as much energy to sustain. They will change back to their rookie forms, the form you guys are used to seeing them in, once we go back to the Digital World."

Izzy, Sora, and Kari did their best to answer the new digidestineds questions. As they were talking, the door to the computer lab opened up and they all gasped. Relief was clear on their faces when they saw Tai enter the computer lab and shut the door behind him.

"He just won't stop talking. Are you guys all ok?"

"We're fine Tai. Yolei and Cody both found their digimon and they were able to digivolve like Veemon," Kari responded.

"That's cool. Glad to meet you two," he said addressing the two new digimon. The leader continued, "Well, it's getting late and I'm sure our parents are starting to grow curious about where we all are."

"Tai's right. See you guys later."

They all exchanged good-byes and the three new digidestineds with their partner digimon walked out of the computer lab. Tai and Kari were both about to leave along with Sora when Izzy spoke up,

"Tai, Kari, Sora, we need to talk."

They turned around and stared at Izzy in confusion.

"What is it Izzy?'

"Is there something wrong?"

Izzy sighed. "It would save time if we had another digidestined meeting. I would hate to tell you guys and then have to tell Matt and Joe the whole thing over again. Let's call them up quick and meet in the park like we did yesterday."

* * *

They sat in silence as they waited for the oldest digidestined, Joe. Sora, Kari, and Izzy were all tired from going to the Digital World earlier that day and yawned occasionally. Tai wasn't as tired, but he was confused. They just had a meeting yesterday to talk about the new digivolution and about the Digimon Emperor. What could Izzy have to tell them that was so important that they had to have another meeting?

"This better be good, Izzy. I had to leave my band's practice early and they are starting to get mad at me leaving. "

"Just wait until Joe shows up, and then you'll realize why I had all you guys come here."

They waited in silence for another five minutes or so before a tall, blue haired teenager ran up to the group.

"Hi guys. Sorry I took so long. I was studying and got a little caught up."

"It's alright, thanks for coming Joe."

"Now, can we please get to the bottom of this? Why are we here Izzy."

Izzy took a deep breath and looked into Matt's eyes. This news was going to affect him the most and he wasn't sure how exactly the blonde haired teen would take the news. He formed the words in his mind and opened his mouth to talk.

"Ok, so, Matt, have you heard from TK recently?"

Matt's eyes opened wide in shock and the teen looked at the ground instantly as a sad and worried expression came across his face. No one was looking at her, but Kari was also shocked at the question.

"No, I haven't talked to him in a couple of months now. But…"

Izzy looked at Matt as he started to frown and sadness was evident on his face. Something was definitely up with TK.

"What's wrong Matt? Did something happen to him?"

Now it was Matt's turn to sigh as he looked around the group trying to think of how to say what had happened to his brother.

"I received a phone call from a French police officer on Sunday. He… he said that my mom and grandparents were in a car accident. They didn't survive the crash."

Sora and Kari gasped and the others' mouths opened in shock.

"The officer also told me… that TK had gone missing. None of his supplies were missing from my grandparents' mansion, so they are pretty sure that he did not run away. They told me they would call back if they found anything new about his whereabouts, but… I haven't heard anything."

None of them were expecting to hear the news Matt had told them. Not even Izzy expected it, although the news of TK missing didn't surprise him. It still was terrible to hear that Miss Takaishi and her parents were all dead.

"I'm so sorry Matt," Sora said trying to comfort Matt as she walked over and gave him a hug. The blonde boy returned the embrace and they remained that way for a little bit before Sora moved back to where she was sitting before.

"So, what were you saying about TK, Izzy?"

Izzy felt terrible for bringing up TK, but how was he supposed to know what had happened? Now, the news that Tentomon had told him made much more sense.

"Well, Tentomon told me that Patamon has gone looking for TK. He said that Patamon felt TK's presence and that he could tell TK was in the Digital World."

Matt suddenly looked up into the red-head's eyes with a look of surprise.

"What? Patamon thinks TK's in the Digital World?"

"That's what Tentomon said."

"Then let's go searching for him right now!"

Tai spoke up, "Matt, the Digital World is huge. We never would be able to find him unless we got very, very lucky. It's already late and it would take forever to search the Digital World for TK."

"Tai's right. And now that the Digimon Emperor is in the Digital World and our digimon can't digivolve, I don't think it's the safest thing to go looking for TK."

"Yeah, the Digimon Emperor might try to attack us and we won't have any way to fight back."

He knew that what his friends were telling him was correct, but he couldn't help himself from wanting to search the entire Digital World for his little brother. He had thought that TK was gone for forever, but now there was a chance that TK was in the Digital World.

"How did you say Patamon knew TK was in the Digital World, Izzy?"

He looked at Kari and repeated his words, "Tentomon said that Patamon felt TK's presence."

Gatomon, the only digimon that was with the group, spoke up,

"That makes sense. I can't explain it, but if I'm separated from Kari I can tell if there's something bad happening to her. If she's in the Digital World, I can tell."

"So, does that mean TK's in trouble?" Matt asked looking worried.

"Matt, I don't know. We shouldn't come to any conclusions. Like Tai said, it's late and some of us are very tired from going to the Digital World earlier today. I only wanted to have this meeting so that I could tell you what Tentomon told me. I say the most knowledgeable thing to do is for us to go home and worry about this tomorrow. We will come up with a plan of action at a later time."

Sora yawned saying, "I agree. I'm so tired."

"Yeah, Izzy's right," Joe also agreed.

They all looked at Matt and waited for his answer. Finally he spoke up, "I guess you're right. Thank you for telling us Izzy."

"Yupp."

"Well, is there anything else you wanted to tell us Izzy?"

"Nope, that was it."

"Ok, well I got to get back and start my studying again. I will see you guys later."

* * *

"Patamon! Pata…"

TK had called out his partner's name for a long time, but his partner continued to sleep. Patamon was right in front of him, but his partner could not hear him or see him at all. The dark world used this to attack TK with intense, dark thoughts. The bad thoughts and images that played in his mind did not end either. TK tried to fight the thoughts and images, but it was tiring him. As a result, he now felt the worse that he had felt while in the dark world. As he sat yelling at his partner, his energy seemed to drain from him. All of his hopes were gone. Even when what he had looked for was right in front of him he still couldn't get what he had wanted. Patamon might as well have been another world away, and he was, but TK didn't know that. TK gave up trying to get his partner to wake back up. What was the point of hoping anymore? TK finally gave up.

He closed his eyes and dropped to the ground. He had decided that now was the time to give up. He was stuck in this dark world all alone. No one was going to find him here, and there was no way for him to escape the clutches of this place. He had lost, and he stopped fighting all the dark thoughts that were trying to fill his mind. A cold sweat formed on his forehead. He could feel his mind drift off, and he lost consciousness.

* * *

He opened his eyes and had to instantly shut his eyes again. The brightness of the sun was too much for his eyes as he was used to everything being so dark. He slowly tried reopening his eyes as he finally adjusted to the light. He looked around and saw that he was in a forest of some sort. Was he finally in the Digital World?

He sat up and got to his feet. He flinched in pain, though, as he had to urge his very tired muscles to move. He shook his legs and arms and they started to feel a little better. He continued to look around when something caught his eye.

"Patamon!"

The digimon opened its eyes in alarm, and then opened its mouth in shock as he saw TK.

"TK!"

The digimon stood up and jumped off the tree that it was perched upon. TK held his arms out ready to catch the digimon. When he moved his arms to catch the digimon, though, the digimon flew right through him. TK looked behind him and saw the Patamon also had a look of shock on his face. He then turned and looked sadly at TK.

"Patamon? What's wrong?"

"I.. I don't know TK. I don't think we'll be able to see each other anymore."

"What? I'm seeing you right now."

"You are still in the dark world. You are its prisoner and there is no way anyone can save you. You are going to die there. Bye TK."

At that time a hole appeared right under TK and he fell into it. TK screamed as he fell to his death.

* * *

He had been falling for a very long time now. He couldn't tell where he was because of the darkness that surrounded him. He couldn't even see himself in the darkness. He couldn't even tell if he was falling anymore. 'Am I dead?' he thought to himself. He had no idea where he was at, but at least he didn't feel sad anymore. All of the sadness and hopelessness had left him leaving him with nothing; he felt nothing. He didn't care anymore about anything. As he continued to fall, memories and images started to fill his mind from the past. He continued to watch the memories fly across his mind. He didn't give any of them any thought until a certain memory popped in his mind.

* * *

"TK, please don't cry. Seeing you cry only makes me feel sad as well. We can't be sad because of us having to part. It isn't going to be good-bye for forever; that I promise you."

TK took in deep breaths as he tried to regain control of himself. Patamon was right. Being sad and crying in this situation wasn't going to help them at all. This was the last time he was going to be able to be with his partner before having to go back to the real world. He didn't know when the next time would come where he'd be able to see his digimon partner again, but he couldn't spend this time crying like a little baby. He wiped the tears away and asked,

"But, what if you can't keep your promise?"

"TK, listen to me. I will not let anything get in the way between us. I will see you again, but you have to have hope. When all seems lost, you cannot give up hope. Why don't we make a promise for each other?"

"A promise? What kind of promise?"

"We both must promise each other that, no matter what, we can't give up on each other. If we are separated, we cannot let anything get in the way of us seeing each other again. Promise me that no matter how bad a situation may seem you will not lose hope. Without hope, you are nothing, but with it, you are the strongest you can be and you can overcome anything. Can you make me that promise TK?"

TK smiled at his partner and replied, "Of course, Patamon. I promise."

Patamon smiled back and TK hugged his partner.

* * *

How could he have forgotten that memory? How could he have forgotten his promise? Patamon was counting on him. TK couldn't lose hope now. He felt guilty for not holding up his side of the promise up until then, but it ended now. TK closed his eyes and focused as hard as he could.

"I can't give up now. I can get through this. I will get out of here, and I will see my partner again. I will, no, I have to. I have to get through this not just for me, but for all the people that love me. Matt, Patamon, my friends; I have to keep my hope not for me but for them. I may have given up before, but I'm back at it now. I will get out of here. I will not lose hope!"

Through his closed eyelids TK could see a light shine. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but bright yellow light. A rush of air came from beneath him shooting him upward. As he rose, he came into contact with what felt like a glass wall. He was being shot up with such a force, though, that he broke through the barrier. Instantly he felt himself being dragged downwards and hopelessness filled his thoughts again. He was tempted to give up, fighting against the darkness and hopelessness was tiring him fast. He didn't know how much longer he could handle this.

"NOOO! I WILL NOT LOSE HOPE!"

He focused even harder and ignored all the dark thoughts that came to his mind. The rush of air pushed him up with renewed strength and he no longer felt himself being dragged downwards. All of a sudden, TK stopped moving and he found himself panting and exhausted. He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. He heard something in the distance gasp in surprise and he heard wings flapping in his direction. He tried his best to stay conscious, but he was too exhausted. He passed out.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon, and I do not own the made-up digimon,Grizzlybearmon, that is referenced in this chapter... just to let you know

Ok, another chapter up, and boy it took a while to write. Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter. Please enjoy this one, and keep reviewing!

* * *

Chapter 6:

Patamon dragged the leaf that held the berries that he had gathered back to the spot where he had found him. He looked at his partner and saw that he still was not awake and did not look any better than the last time he had seen him. Patamon was so relieved that he had finally found TK; he knew that TK was in the Digital World. How he had found his partner, though, made him confused. Patamon thought he heard a voice calling out his name and he even thought he saw something standing in front of him, but when he shook his head and didn't see anything he disregarded it and took his nap. While he was sleeping he had heard a loud gust blowing and he opened his eyes. He nearly fell off the tree as TK suddenly appeared in front of him passed out.

Patamon drug the berries next to TK and he laid on the ground with his head on his paws staring at his partner. Patamon had waited so long to finally see his partner again. It had been four years since he saw his partner. He had long wondered and worried about his partner despite what the others, mostly Matt, had told him. He was told that TK's mother was angry at TK for getting injured again because of Digital World events. She had not allowed him to visit Odaiba since then, and, therefore, hadn't been able to visit the Digital World. It was not easy for Patamon to have his partner missing. Without TK, Patamon wasn't complete. It was hard for him to watch the other digimon be with their partners while he was all alone.

Now he finally had his partner back, well, sort of back. TK's face was covered in a cold sweat and he constantly was shivering. He had a frightened look on his face as if he was having a very bad nightmare. Patamon wanted to help his partner, but there was nothing he could do until he woke up. Patamon placed a paw on his partner's shoulder.

"It'll be ok, TK. Fight through it."

Patamon kept looking at his partner worried for his safetyy. TK had definitely changed over the years. He had grown much taller and he really slimmed out; he almost looked too slim, as if he'd missed many meals recently. He still had blonde hair, but his face had grown very stern as if he hadn't smiled in a very long time. He also looked completely exhausted as if he had run ten marathons in a row at a dead sprint pace. Although TK didn't seem to be the same person Patamon remembered, he still was very glad to have TK back.

Patamon realized that TK would need water when he woke up. He remembered that he had flown over a river yesterday; it was at that point the Digimon Emperor had started chasing him. Patamon flew in the direction of the river.

It took him a good while to drag the water back in a leaf similar to the one he had put the berries in, but he finally made it back to his partner. Patamon was surprised to find TK sitting up.

"TK!"

TK jumped in fright and when he gained his composure back he looked like he was ready to defend himself. Patamon was taken aback by the action and looked into his partner's eyes.

"TK? It's me, Patamon."

TK continued to stare at Patamon and they held their gaze for what seemed like the longest minute in the world for Patamon. Finally, TK shook his head and looked back at Patamon.

"Patamon, is that you?"

"TK!"

Patamon flew at the boy who extended his arms and caught the digimon. TK hugged his digimon partner tightly. He was so relieved that Patamon hadn't flown through his arms like in his dream, well, at least he thought it was a dream. He was so confused. He felt exhausted beyond belief and he had a very bad migraine. TK couldn't shake off the feeling that this all was a dream, another trick that the dark world was playing on him. He no longer knew what was reality and what wasn't. Memories of the dark world, Patamon flying through his arms, falling in complete darkness, remembering the promise he made with Patamon, and a bright yellow light shooting him up through the clutches of the dark world filled his mind. Had that all really happened?

"TK, I was so worried about you. Where have you been all this time?"

TK sighed causing his partner to move his head and stare into his eyes. Worry and concern spilled over Patamon's face as he watched his partner.

"Patamon… I…"

He couldn't find the words. He suddenly found it very hard to talk. Patamon flew out of his hands and hovered in front of him.

"TK, you need to eat and drink. Have some water. I also brought berries."

He watched as he partner flew to the ground and drug a leaf towards him. He saw that the big, round leaf had a generous supply of water in it and he picked it up gratefully. He took a sip of water before setting the leaf back down. He then saw the berries that were in another leaf and he plopped one of them into his mouth. As he chewed the berry he realized that he had not eaten while he was in the dark world. His stomach growled making sure that he knew how much he needed the food. He plopped more of the berries into his mouth and swallowed them down along with a gulp of water. He instantly felt a lot better.

"Thank you Patamon. How long have I been here?"

"Umm… a little under half a day I believe. You sort of just appeared out of thin air in the middle of the night. It's just about mid-day now," his partner replied as he looked straight up at the sun that was directly above them.

"You don't happen to know what day of the week it is, do you?"

"I have to say I do not know my days of the week. I do know, though, that two days ago it was Monday. At least that's what Tentomon said."

Two days ago was Monday? That meant that today was Wednesday! TK was overwhelmed as he realized that he had been in the dark ocean for a total of four days. No wonder he was so exhausted.

"Are you alright TK? You look like someone just slapped you across the face."

"Uhh… "

"What happened TK?"

TK sighed as he realized he was going to have to relive his experience so he could tell Patamon. This was going to be a long story.

He started the story with why he hadn't been to the Digital World the past four years. From there he explained how not seeing his friends, family, and his partner had affected him. Then he told him about his mother and grandparents' death, and how he then found himself in the dark world. He explained how he spent three days wandering around aimlessly before he saw Patamon flying away from the Digimon Emperor. He told him how Patamon hadn't been able to hear or see him although TK had been able to clearly see Patamon. Then he tried his best to re-tell the part where he saw Patamon but Patamon flew right through his arms. Then he explained the part where he fell, but remembered the promise he made so many years ago to not lose hope and how he had been able to break through his hopelessness.

After he finished Patamon remained silent as he thought on what TK had told him. He couldn't imagine how hard the past few days had been for TK. He felt terrible that he wasn't able to help his partner through that difficult time. He never heard of this dark world before, and from how TK described it it didn't sound like a good place at all. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like to be there for four days. The part about TK being surrounded by a yellow light and fighting through the barrier he had described made him smile.

"You realize, TK, that the yellow light was the power of your crest right?"

"What do you mean? We released our crests four years ago. I thought they were gone for good."

"No, it is true that you lost your crest, but the power of your crest still lives inside you. Hope, the symbol of your crest, cannot simply be placed into an object. Hope cannot die in the same way as courage, light, friendship, and the other crests cannot die. When you fought through the clutches of the dark world you had hope. Your hope brought out the power of your crest that was deep inside you all along. This also explains why you are so exhausted. Because your crest is gone, the power of your hope had to use your energy to protect you. Before, the crest was used to supply the energy needed. Does that make sense to you?"

TK nodded. Honestly, all of it had confused him, but he did understand a little of what his partner had said. Everything that had happened to him over the past four days, though, confused him. He was glad that it all was over.

TK finally decided that he'd try to stand up. He moved his legs and used his arms to support himself as he tried to stand up. The movement surprised Patamon.

"TK! What are you doing? You need to rest!"

"I'm… fine… Patamon."

He pushed himself off the ground and with much effort he finally was on his feet. His legs shook and threatened to give out underneath him. He took a step and his right leg gave out. He put his arm down to catch himself before he fell to the ground.

"TK, please stop. You're not ready to walk yet."

"Patamon, I need to move around. Please don't stop me."

Patamon flew off and turned his head back and forth as if he were looking for something. TK stood and watched, curious as to what his digimon partner was doing. His partner found what he was looking for and picked up a tall stick with his mouth. He carried it that way back to TK. TK then realized that Patamon wanted him to use it as a walking stick. TK sighed and took the stick from his partner. He felt like an old man as he took up a routine: step, stick, step, and repeat. TK laughed as he realized that he had no idea where he was going as he walked through the forest.

"What's so funny TK?"

"I have no idea where we are going."

"I'll lead the way."

"But where are we going?"

"To go find the others of course!"

The others? TK flinched as he remembered all the dark thoughts that had filled his mind the past few days about all of his friends. He wasn't sure he wanted to see his friends after what he had seen the past few days. The dark thoughts that had went through his mind were very troubling and were bound to affect him for a long time.

Patamon looked at his partner as he saw how he had reacted when he said they were going to see the others.

"TK, what's wrong? Don't you want to go see the others?"

He flinched again as more images of his friends flashed through his mind. He finally decided that he needed to tell Patamon what he had seen.

"Patamon, I saw… I saw them do terrible things to me."

"Who?"

"The… the others."

"What do you mean they did terrible things to you?"

"I… I saw them yell at me, cuss me out, and torture me, and… and… I… I thought it was real."

Patamon didn't understand how bad the memories could have been, but from the way TK looked when he told him of the memories, Patamon could tell that they were terrible. Patamon stopped in mid-air and TK stopped as well.

"What is it Patamon?"

"We're not going to see the others," he stated simply.

"What?"  
"You are not in any state to see the others."

"Patamon, I'll be…"

"NO TK, you will not be fine. You still look at me as if I'm about to start attacking you. You need time to rest and recover. I will not take no for an answer."

TK sighed, but he actually was happy with his partner's response. They continued to walk through the forest and TK asked his partner,

"So, Patamon, who was that guy that was chasing you on Airdramon?"

Patamon explained to TK how the Digimon Emperor had appeared in the Digital World suddenly and had started using these dark rings to take control of digimon. He also told him of the control spires that had prevented the old digidestineds' digimon from digivolving. Finally, he talked about the three new digidestineds and how their digimon had been able to find a way to digivolve.

"Three new digidestineds, and a new way to digivolve? I've been gone for too long."

"Yes you have TK, but you're here now."

Patamon smiled at his partner. The smile immediately faded, though, as his ears heard something in the distance headed right for them. He stopped and listened.

"Patamon?"

"Shh. I think I hear something."

He heard wings flapping, and then there was silence. Patamon and TK continued to listen, and they were shocked by the closeness of the next sound.

"Spinning Needle!"

A gust of air flew right towards them.

"TK RUN!"

TK threw down his walking stick and started following his partner as he flew through the trees constantly looking back to make sure TK was doing ok.

"Come on TK! Try to keep up!"

"I'm… trying…"

TK could hear Airdramon flying above them as he tried to find him and Patamon through the thick trees. As he ran he heard someone laughing evilly. He assumed it was the Digimon Emperor.

"Oh so the Patamon finally brought along his digidestined, eh? Too bad you can't digivolve. Just give up now; it would make it so much easier for all of us."

TK ignored the Digimon Emperor's taunts and continued to run after Patamon. It was hard to keep running, though. He was already panting and his muscles were very sore. The only thing that kept him going was the threat of the Digimon Emperor; he couldn't allow himself to get captured. They kept running through the forest, and there finally was a clearing up ahead. Patamon flew for the clearing and they exited the forest.

"TK! There's a cave up ahead. We can hide there!"

"Alright… let's… get there."

TK saw the cave that Patamon was talking about and followed him inside. Luckily the light from outside was enough to light up the cave. He only hoped that there wasn't some Grizzlybearmon or something inside the cave that would try to attack them. He took a seat on one of the rocks as he tried to catch his breath.

"Patamon? Where'd you go?"

"I'm down here. TK, come take a look at these!"

TK sighed as he got back to his feet and walked over to where he saw Patamon. Patamon was hovering in front of two different colored stones. As TK got closer, though, he realized that they were not stones, they were eggs. TK opened his mouth in shock as he saw that one of the eggs had the crest of hope engraved on it.

"Patamon, what are these?"

"They're digi-eggs."

"You mean there are digimon inside of those?"

"No, they're digivolution eggs. They look like the one Veemon used to digivolve to Flamedramon."

"You mean that there's two more new digidestineds?"

"I don't know, but you see that one of them has the crest of hope on it. The other has the crest of light on it."

TK winced as Patamon said that. The crest of light made him think of Kari, and thinking of Kari made him remember all the terrible things he had watched her do to him.

"TK, why don't you try to pick up the one with the crest of hope on it?"

"Me? But, it's probably not meant for me. Besides, I have my digimon partner already."

"Just try it. You'll never know until you do."

TK sighed as he walked over to the digi-egg. It didn't look like it was about to budge. He took one look at the other digi-egg and flinched again, remembering his bad visions. He then put his arms on the digi-egg and pulled as hard as he could. Surprisingly the digi-egg was extremely light and he picked it up without a problem. As he picked up the digi-egg a bright green light shone from his pocket where his digivice was. TK pulled out his digivice and was shocked to find it change forms. It turned from the gray, square-shaped device into a green, rectangular-sort-of-shaped device. TK looked at Patamon who smiled.

"Looks like you are a digidestined again!"

TK smiled back.

"And it looks like you can digivolve now. Ready to go beat up on that Digimon Emperor?"

"You betcha."

"Let's go get him. Digivolve!"

A green and orange light came out of his digivice and Patamon started to glow. He watched in awe as his partner changed forms. The light dimmed down revealing Patamon's new form. Standing in front of TK was what looked like a horse with orange fur and golden armor. He also had bright golden wings and the crest of hope was engraved on the portion of the golden armor covering his forehead.

"Woah! That's pretty cool Patamon."

"I'm Pegasusmon now!"

"Right! Let's go kick some butt!"

Pegasusmon nodded and TK mounted his digimon. Pegasusmon walked out of the cave before expanding his wings and taking flight. They rose over the trees and TK instantly saw Airdramon flying around the trees sending attacks here and there.

"Pegasusmon, let's try to sneak attack. We'll have a better chance of landing a direct hit on that dark ring if they aren't expecting it. Pegasusmon nodded and flew higher into the air. They eventually were flying about fifty feet above Airdramon. TK could hear the Digimon Emperor shouting out taunts.

"Come out come out where ever you are. I will find you, and when I do you two will be my slaves for life. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"Now Pegasusmon!"

Pegasusmon dove towards Airdramon. TK had to hold on as Pegasusmon gained speed quickly.

"There's the dark ring! Get it!"

"Star Shower!"

Airdramon and the Digimon Emperor looked up in surprise. They couldn't move out-of-the-way though. Pegasusmon flung his wings shooting ten or so star-shaped pieces of energy at the dark ring. It was a direct hit, and the dark ring was destroyed by the attack. TK noticed Airdramon's eyes return to normal and he let out a cry. He started flailing about trying to get rid of the Digimon Emperor on his back. TK heard the Digimon Emperor scream for his life as he fell off the Airdramon and started gaining speed, headed right for the ground. TK had to make a decision at that time. Would he let the Digimon Emperor fall to his death, or would he save him? Some of the dark feelings that had disturbed him in the dark world came back to him. They told him to let the Emperor fall to his death. TK shook his head causing the dark thoughts to leave him; he no longer was going to live by those thoughts and feelings any more.

"Pegasusmon, we have to save him."

Pegasusmon dove down so that he was right above the falling Digimon Emperor who now found a sudden hobby in screaming his head off. TK watched a blur of purple zoom by his face and he realized that the Emperor's sunglasses had flown off of his head.

"Golden Noose!"

Pegasusmon formed a golden thread between his two front hooves and swung the thread underneath the falling boy. Pegasusmon successfully caught him and slowed his speed as he neared the ground. He then set the Digimon Emperor on the ground softly and landed next to him. TK took advantage of this time to get a good look at the Digimon Emperor. He really was a teenage boy like him. He could tell that the blue hair was a wig and not his real hair. The Digimon Emperor was shaking, out of anger or fear he wasn't sure. The Digimon Emperor slowly moved his gaze up and TK stared at the boy's face. He then realized that he was shaking out of anger.

"Why did you save me? You should've just let me die!"

TK shook his head. The truth was that he was exhausted and was not in the mood to talk. TK could also tell that Pegasusmon was starting to get tired too.

"Pegasusmon?"

Pegasusmon nodded showing that he understood. Pegasusmon extended his wings and took flight.

"Answer me you coward!"

TK laughed at the rage of the Digimon Emperor. Apparently he was a coward even though he had saved the boy's life. He decided that the kid had issues. Pegasusmon continued to fly off into the distance as they ignored the screams of the Digimon Emperor. He leaned forward and rested his head on his partner's neck as they flew away.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

Not very proud of this chapter. It definitely wasn't my best writing, I know it wasn't, and I apologize. Either way, I needed to get this chapter out-of-the-way so that the story can start to open up more. Also, I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to update again so please bare with me. A big thanks goes out to everybody who's reviewed so far: LILFOC, Ultimate Black Ace, AUehara, DCLWLOKPR44424, StarPurpleandBlue, Asahina Twins, . . , and Higuchimon. If any of you have any ideas or suggestions for the story please PM me or mention them in a review; they would be much appreciated. Anyways, here's the chapter, and please keep reviewing!

* * *

Chapter 7:

He sat in his throne as he thought about what had just happened; there was too much to think about. The first problem was that the Patamon's digidestined had returned to the Digital World. He hadn't seen the blonde digidestined in the Digital World, and it surprised him that they were alone. Where were the other digidestineds, and what exactly was the digidestined doing in the Digital World without his friends? He had kept track of him on his map of the Digital World and noticed that the boy and his digimon partner had stopped to rest. What exactly was this digidestined up to?

Then there was the question that had bothered him the most; why had the digidestined saved him? He should have died, but the boy had opted to save him. Did he not know that he was the Digimon Emperor? The part that bothered him the most was the part where the boy had just flown away after he had saved him. He had shouted at the boy saying cruel things about him, but the boy kept flying away on his digimon. This had angered him, but, even worse, it had left him confused. He never was confused; he was the smartest person alive. How could he be confused?

He couldn't shake off the feeling that something had happened to the boy. He had looked into the boy's eyes and saw pain, sadness, and exhaustion inside them. What had happened to the boy; did it have something to do why he wasn't with the other digidestineds? One thing was certain, though. This digidestined was a threat to him, and all threats needed to be removed if he was going to rule the Digital World.

Beeping noises started going off and he was removed from his thoughts. He shook his head and refocused on the map he had already been staring at. On the map appeared five new dots not too far away from the blonde-digidestined; that meant that the other digidestineds had returned. He typed on his keyboard and an image of the new arrivals appeared. The three new digidestineds had returned along with two of the older digidestineds. One was a girl who looked his age with brown hair and brown eyes. The other was an older, blonde boy with cold, blue eyes. He was shocked as he noticed the resemblance he shared with the other blonde digidestined. Were they related? He couldn't worry about that now. He had work to do, digidestineds to defeat.

* * *

"Gabumon!"

"Matt!"

The two partners ran towards each other and met in a hug. They both were obviously happy to see the other.

"It's been too long Gabumon!"

"I agree!"

After the two had exchanged their greetings, the group started walking. The purpose of this trip to the Digital World was to search for TK and Patamon. Kari was so anxious, but excited. She hadn't seen what used to be her best friend for four years now, and the chance that TK was in the Digital World had lifted her mood incredulously. She looked at her partner who also seemed to be in a better mood.

The downside, though, was that the Digital World was huge. Even if TK was in the Digital World, there was a very slim chance that they would be able to find him. Matt and Kari didn't let that fact disturb them; they had to find TK because of what he meant to the both of them.

"So, is this digidestined we're looking for cute?"

Yolei was always looking for cute boys to flirt with and she was excited about the news of there being another digidestined who was a guy. Matt and Kari laughed at the girl's question, but their laughter was interrupted. It was very faint, but they could feel the ground shake. The shaking intensified and the group started to worry.

"EARTHQUAKE!"

Evil laughter could be heard and the group quickly turned behind them and saw the Digimon Emperor on top of a huge red dragon digimon. Kari quickly recognized the digimon as a Tyrannomon, and she instantly spotted the dark ring on the digimon. The ground continued to shake and the group quickly found themselves surrounded by Tyrannomon.

"Well, look what we got here. I see that you fools continue to show up in my world. I don't like trespassers."

Matt growled and replied angrily, "This is not your world!"

"Oh, but isn't it? Why don't we fight over it?"

"That sounds like a great idea. Veemon, digivolve!"

"You too Hawkmon!"

"Armadilomon!"

The three new digidestineds outstretched their digivices and their digimon digivolved to their new forms. The Digimon Emperor continued to laugh.

"Four against three? I have to say I like my odds. Go Tyrannomon!"

Flamedramon, Halsemon, and Digmon all took their own Tyrannomon and started fighting one-on-one.

"Gabumon, are you sure you can't digivolve?"

Gabumon closed his eyes to focus, but then let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry Matt."  
"It's ok, it was worth a try."

"MATT WATCH OUT!"

Kari tackled the blonde boy out-of-the-way as a stream of fire landed right where Matt had been standing seconds ago. Kari looked up and saw another stream of fire heading their way. She barrel rolled away from the attack and quickly got to her feet. Cody, Yolei, and Davis were standing next to their partners, focused on the fight.

"Kari, we have to get out of here!"

"What about the others?"

"Their digimon are able to digivolve; I'm sure they'll be fine. Ours can't, though. Come on!"

Kari hated to leave their friends fighting by themselves, but she knew Matt was right. She followed Matt as they started running away from the fight.

"Gatomon! Come on!"

The two digidestineds and their partners ran as fast as they could away from the fight. Kari looked behind her expecting to see the DIgimon Emperor chasing them, but he wasn't. At that point Kari heard her D-Terminal start to beep. She quickly pulled it out and looked at a map of the Digital World. She saw a yellow dot not too far away from them; this meant there was another digi-egg close by.

"Matt, there's a digi-egg just up ahead."

Matt nodded and the two quickened their pace. Even though they weren't being chased they still were worried about their friends. Tyrannomon was a very strong digimon, and their friends were outnumbered.

Kari looked at her D-Terminal again and then looked forward. There was a cave up ahead, and the map showed that the digi-egg was inside the cave.

"In that cave, Matt. That's where the digi-egg is."

They entered the cave and stopped their sprint. The two panted as they tried to slow their breathing. Once they caught their breath, they walked farther into the cave.

"There it is!"

The two digidestineds and their partners walked over to where the digi-egg was sitting. Kari gasped as she saw the crest of light engraved upon the white digi-egg.

"What's that on the digi-egg?"

"It looks like the symbol for the crest of light."

"The crest of light? Then it must be your digi-egg Kari!"

"But…"

"Kari, we don't have much time. Our friends could already be in danger. At least try to lift the egg."

Kari sighed. She walked over to the egg and placed her hands on it. She used all her strength to life the egg. She hadn't expected the egg to budge as she remembered her last attempt at picking up a digi-egg, the digi-egg of courage. To her surprise, the egg was extremely light and it lifted easily. Suddenly a bright light formed where her digivice was hooked onto her belt. She grabbed the device as it changed forms. The light dimmed and revealed the same type of digivice as the new digidestineds, except hers was a light pink. She looked up first at Gatomon and then at Matt with an expression of complete shock across her face. Matt smiled brightly at her and said,

"I told you it was yours. Now, let's go save our friends."

"Right. Gatomon, digivolve!"

A bright white and pink light shone from her new digivice and Gatomon started glowing as well as she started changing forms. Kari covered her eyes because of the bright light that was exposed in the dark cave. Once the light dimmed she looked at her partner in awe. Standing in front of her was what looked like an Egyptian sphinx with white wings. Kari noticed similarities between this digimon and Gatomon such as the white fur and the digimon's tail. Kari smiled at her partner.

"Gatomon, you're beautiful. What digimon are you?"

"I'm Nefertimon."

"That's so cool. Well, you ready to save our friends?"

"You betcha."

Matt, Gabumon, and Kari mounted on the digimon once they were outside the cave and they took off into the air. It didn't take long for them to get back to where the battle was going on. Kari gasped as she saw Flamedramon land hard on the ground and de-digivolve. She saw Davis run to what was now Veemon checking to see if his partner was hurt. Yolei and Cody were checking on their partner's health too; they had dedigivolved as well. Kari watched as the four Tyrannomon circled around her friends. The Digimon Emperor was laughing maniacally.

"Guys! Are you ok?"

The three new digidestineds looked up at Kari, Matt, and Gabumon with surprise clear across their face.

"Kari? Whose digimon is that?"

"It's Gatomon. She digivolved."

Nefertimon dropped to the ground next to Davis, Yolei, and Cody and dropped off her passengers.. The Digimon Emperor sighed.

"Not another one. Oh well, there's no way you'll be able to defeat all four Tyrannomon."

"You're wrong! Get them Nefertimon."

Kari watched her partner take flight as she dodged attack after attack. Some had come very close to hitting her partner, and she hadn't had the chance to attack. Kari didn't see this turning out good.

Nefertimon dove as she avoided a stream of fire and then launched her first counterattack.

"Queen's Paw!"

Red diamonds shot out from her partner and headed for the dark ring on one of the Tyrannomon. It was a direct hit and the dark ring was destroyed.

"Nefertimon watch out!"

Nefertimon had been too focused on the counter attack and did not see the claw that was headed right for her. She was hit, and the force of the attack slammed her into the ground. The attack was too strong, and she de-digivolved back to Gatomon.

"Gatomon!"

Kari ran to her digimon as fast as she could and picked her up in her arms.

"Gatomon are you ok?"

"Kari… I.. I'm sorry."

Kari smiled at her partner and said, "Don't worry; you did your best."

The Digimon Emperor laughed evilly as he realized that he had won. He laughed even more at the fear and anger that was clear on the digidestineds' faces. No longer was he going to have to worry about them messing with his plans.

"Star Shower!"

His evil smirk quickly left his face as he recognized the attack. Memories from his near-death experience from earlier that day flashed back through his mind.

"Equus Beam"

A green beam flew through the air and the attack destroyed another dark ring. The Digimon Emperor jumped off the Tyrannomon and started running away from the battle. He took out his digivice and started talking into it. After a minute of running, a Unimon flew to his side and he hopped onto its back.

"Wind Mane!"

Needles were shot from Pegasusmon's mane and landed a direct hit on the dark ring of the last Tyrannomon. TK spoke frantically to his partner.

"Good job Pegasusmon, but we have to get out of here now before they realize it's me."

Pegasusmon nodded and turned away from the others. He flew away as fast as he could so that they wouldn't be able to recognize them.

Kari stared in shock as the winged-horse flew away. She noticed that there was someone sitting on the digimon's back, but she hadn't been able to get a good look at her savior's face. A thought came to her mind and her mouth opened in shock. 'Who always saved me when no one else could?' She spoke the answer.

"TK?"


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Chatper 8 is up. A lot of things explained in here as well as more things to be confused about. Not the longest of all chapters, but hopefully it'll be enough to satisfy you guys for the next couple of days until I'm able to update again. I apologize in advance for any grammar or spelling mistakes because I haven't had the chance to read through it. I just wanted to get this chapter up quick, and if there are a lot of errors then I will change them later. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, and I hope you guys keep reviewing. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8:

The sun was finally setting, and an orange glow filled the computer lab. The room was filled with the voices of the digidestineds as they told Izzy what had happened. Kari sat there silently, keeping her thoughts to herself. Gatomon sat on her lap and she stroked her digimon's head. She knew that there was a very slim chance that the one who had saved them from the Tyrannomon was TK, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that she knew it was him.

"Did you guys get a chance to see his or her face?"

"No, but I think it was TK."

Kari looked at Matt and she saw the troubled expression on his face. He obviously had the same feeling that it was TK who had saved them, but Matt also seemed troubled by all things that pointed away from TK. Besides, if it was TK there were so many questions that were raised.

"TK? You mean the digidestined that we were looking for?"

"Yeah, that's him, but I honestly don't think it was him," Izzy replied. "I know I wasn't there, but there are so many things that point away from it being TK. First off, how would Patamon be able to digivolve?"

Kari spoke up, "There's a chance that he found a digi-egg like I did. Maybe Patamon was able to digivolve like Gatomon and the other new digimon are now able to. Like we said, we haven't seen that digimon ever before, so that would explain it."

Izzy nodded, but he still didn't look convinced. "I understand your point, but that's not the only reason why I don't think it was TK. Why would TK run away from you guys after the battle? If it was TK, wouldn't he be happy to see you guys and come back to the real world with you? Why would he run away?"

At this both Matt and Kari found a sudden liking to looking at the floor. They had no answer for Izzy, and honestly, they had no evidence that it was TK besides their gut feeling. Izzy looked at the two of them and said,

"I'm not trying to say that it wasn't TK; I'm just saying that we have to be logical. We shouldn't jump to conclusions like this. All possible options need to be explored and thought upon."

Matt lifted his eyes and looked at Izzy, "I know Izzy, but… I just can't shake off the feeling that it was TK."

"Me too," Kari spoke up.

Yolei had been listening intently to the conversation and decided to speak up. "Could it be that you two feel this way because deep down you have such strong hope that it was him?"

Kari nodded. She was surprised by the seriousness and knowledge of her usually kidding friend.

When no one had any more words on the subject, Izzy changed the subject back to the Digital World. Kari listened as Izzy talked about the Digimon Emperor. She heard him talk about his discovery that the dark rings could only control digimon up to the champion level. He also concluded that the control spires were the source of power for the dark rings, and that the control spires were the reason that their digimon had not been able to digivolve. Kari half-listened as the genius continued to talk about what their future plans should be. She just couldn't get the image of the pegasus-like digimon flying away with someone mounted on its back out of her head.

Before she knew it, the computer lab darkened as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. They all stood up knowing that it was time to go back home. Kari opened her bag and was about to stuff her partner inside the bag when she decided that it was late enough where there wouldn't be that many people walking the side-walks of Odaiba and that it would be ok if she carried Gatomon. Kari picked up her partner and followed her friends as they exited the computer lab. They walked out of the school and they all said their good-byes as they all walked their separate ways.

* * *

Scubamon was extremely nervous about what he was going to have to tell his master. Dragomon definitely wasn't going to be happy with the news, and all of his servants feared what their master did when he wasn't happy. If only he wouldn't have lost the bet for who had to tell Dragomon the news. Now he was going to have to pay.

The Scubamon swam through the doors that led to Dragomon's underwater castle. Many Scubamon, like him, and dark spirits watched him with different expressions on their faces. Some had an expression of crazed joy as they knew what was going to happen to him, others looked at him in confusion, some looked at him with sorrow across their faces knowing his near fate, while others just ignored him.

He gulped as he entered Dragomon's room. He was instantly met by Dragomon's eyes that seemed to send daggers right through him. He flinched. He wanted to run away and escape what was about to happen, but the doors to Dragomon's throne room shut instantly.

"What brings you here Scubamon?"

He was shaking violently now, and found it hard to speak.

"Uh.. Uh… Master Dragomon… the…"

"Spit it out now or I'll kill you right now."

"The digidestined of Hope has disappeared from the Dark World!"

He rushed through the words and quickly avoided his master's eyes as anger shone through them.

"WHAT! I ordered that the boy must be kept here until the child of Light arrives!"

Dragomon roared in anger and shouted out his attack,

"Forbidden Trident!"

He tried to dodge the attack, but he was too slow. The trident stabbed right through his body and everything went dark.

Dragomon was furious. He had it all planned out. They were to keep the digidestined of hope stuck in the Dark World until the opportunity arose to use him to get to the child of light. They first needed the hope child to lose all of his hope, which they were so close to achieving. With the digidestined suffering, they would be able to bring the child of light here on her own free will. With both of the two digidestineds stuck in the Dark World, he would be able to extend his rule to the Digital World. Now, however, his plans were ruined… or were they.

He smiled an evil smile as a thought came to his mind. He had just allowed a digimon to feed off the Dark World's energy in order to stay alive and prevent from being reconfigured. He had accepted because of the future advantages the digimon would have for him. It looked like his services were needed now, however, to get the child of hope back to the Dark World. Yes, if anyone would be able to get the child of hope back to the Dark World it would be that digimon. He stood up from his throne and exited his castle as he headed for the digimon.

It didn't take him long to find the digimon who only had half his body. The digimon looked at him with an obvious mad expression on his face.

"Dragomon, may I help you?"

"Yes, yes you can."

Dragomon extended his claw to the digimon and touch him on the shoulder. The rest of the digimon's body appeared and the digimon looked down at his newly restored body in awe. An evil smile grew on the digimon's face as he looked up towards him.

"I have given you the rest of your body so that you can serve me."

"What is it you need me to do?"

"I need you to bring me back the child of hope."

Devimon's expression turned into one of shock, but then changed into evil pleasure.

"I need him alive, however. If he dies it will do me no good and will prevent me from bringing the child of light here and extending my rule over to the Digital World. Do you understand?"

The devil digimon nodded and flew off. He smiled at the stupidity of the Dragomon. Dragomon was a strong digimon, but he didn't have it all going for him in the head like he did. He now was given a chance to fulfill his revenge on the child of hope and he planned on getting his revenge. He was going to kill the child of hope and worry about Dragomon later. He flew through the dark whirlpool and laughed as he found himself in the Digital World again. He could almost taste his revenge; it was so close.

* * *

TK opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a battle. He saw MagnaAngemon and MetalGarurumon and he looked to see who they were fighting, but he then realized that the battle was between each other. He took his eyes off the digimon just in time to see Matt only two feet away from him with his fist drawn back. He willed his body to move, but it was as if his body was working against him. Matt's fist landed a hit right on his face. The force of the blow caused him to be lifted off his feet and hit the ground with a loud thud. He groaned because of the pain and quickly got to his feet as Matt ran towards him again. TK ducked under a punch and jumped out of the way of a kick before running away from his brother to put some distance between them. He took this time to look at the digimon that were battling. MagnaAngemon, like TK, was on the defensive and refused to attack the other. TK watched in horror as MagnaAngemon raised his sword to fend off MetalGarurumon's claw attacks. The two digimon were so close making his partner an easy target.

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

MetalGarurumon pushed away from MagnaAngemon and fired a freezing breath from his mouth. Once the attack cleared, he saw that MagnaAngmon was falling to the ground, unable to move. His partner landed on the ground with a loud thud. MetalGarurumon fired its missiles and lasers at MagnaAngemon and they landed a direct hit. A huge explosion resulted and TK waited for the smoke to clear. He was so focused on his partner, though, that he didn't see Matt come up from behind him. His brother punched him as hard as he could right on his back. TK fell face first on the ground in pain. He looked up and saw the smoke from the explosion had cleared. MagnaAngemon had de-digivolved into Poyomon, and TK watched in horror as MetalGarurumon neared the baby digimon, going in for the kill.

"NOOO!"

He received a hard kick on his side and he turned over onto his back to find his brother with a look of cruel satisfaction on his face.

TK closed his eyes. He couldn't tell if this was real or not; he still couldn't tell reality because of what happened in the Dark World. He braced himself, ready for another attack from his brother, but it never came. He opened his eyes and noticed that the scene had changed. He now was standing on top of a mountain. It was hard to see his surroundings because it had become night. He instantly recognized where he was and looked around to see if anyone, or anything, was there with him. He noticed that Patamon wasn't there with him, and this didn't really calm him. He quickly turned behind him as he heard evil laughter fill the cold mountain air. TK could feel the evil from the digimon, and he instantly knew who was with him on Infinity Mountain.

Memories from his first battle in the Digital World filled his mind. He remembered him, a small, eight-year old boy, looking into the sky at his newly digivolved partner. Patamon had just digivolved into Angemon and was battling Devimon. TK was frightened, of course; his friends' digimon hadn't been able to defeat Devimon while they battled all together so what were the chances that his digimon alone would be able to beat Devimon? He was shocked as lights shone from their digivice right at Angemon and Angemon's fist started to glowan orange color. Angemon drew back his fist and then punched the air in front of him. A beam of orange light was shot at the unsuspecting Devimon and it pierced right through the digimon. Devimon screamed in pain as he started being deleted. He looked in horror as the same thing was happening to Angemon. He couldn't lose his partner, but all he could do was kneel and cry. He watched his partner and Devimon delete completely right before his eyes.

TK shook his head, ending the memory. He watched as Devimon walked out of the darkness and into his sight.

"Well look who we have here."

TK shook with anger as the devil neared him. Devimon was the reason he almost lost Angemon, and he wasn't about to forgive Devimon, either.

"Still fretting about what happened in the past, eh? I haven't forgot what happened in this exact place so many years ago either."

"Why are you here Devimon?"

"I'm here to give you a, ah, little warning. I am back, and I am coming out for you. This time you will not win. I will destroy your partner, and then I will destroy you. Then my revenge will be fulfilled."

TK flinched at the demon's words. Devimon was back? Was this real, or was he just dreaming this? He regained his composure and replied,

"You will never defeat us. Even if you really are back, Patamon and I will beat you again, and this time Patamon will not lose his life defeating you."

The demon laughed. "You are wrong, boy. I have grown stronger since the last time I battled you. I have gained power from the Dark World." The demon's evil smile widened as he watched the boy wince at the mention of the Dark World. "Yes, I know about you being in the Dark World, and my orders are to take you back there. I, however, don't take orders from lesser digimon. Instead of taking you back to the Dark World, I am going to simply destroy you. After that, I can move on to taking over the Digital World. Now, I have to go, but not without leaving you a parting gift. Evil Touch!"

Devimon moved quicker than TK ever could have thought possible. He watched as Devimon's claw got closer to hitting him. He couldn't move, and he was hit. The spikes on the demon's claw shot right through him, and TK felt dark energy surge through him. Dark thoughts, much worse than those he had in the Dark World filled his mind. He screamed in agony, willing it all to end. He heard the demon laugh and then withdraw his claw and take flight.

* * *

TK sat up instantly. He found himself breathing hard and his whole body was drenched in a cold sweat. Memories of his past nightmares rushed through his his mind. Was that all that they were, nightmares, or were they something more? And what if he still was in a dream?

"TK, are you ok?"

Patamon had been watching his partner move in his sleep for the past half an hour. TK's groaning noises were what woke him, and he was worried about his partner. He heard little bits of his nightmare such as "Matt" "Patamon" "Devimon" and then he constantly looked like he was in pain.

TK nearly jumped as he heard his parnter's voice. He thought he was still in a nightmare and that someone was going to start attacking him like his brother and Devimon had. He sighed in relief as he realized it was just Patamon.

"Oh, Patamon. I'm fine. Just a nightmare."

Patamon watched TK as he slowly caught his breath. TK wiped the sweat off his head trying to recover from the nightmares.

"What were your nightmares about, TK?"

TK winced as he remembered the nightmares. He didn't want to tell Patamon his nightmares, especially the last one, but he decided he would tell his partner.

"The first one… Matt and Metal Garurumon… you were battling MetalGarurumon as MagnaAngemon and Matt was fighting me. Matt punched me and kicked me. MetalGarurumon made you de-digivolve and he was going in for the kill. Then the scene changed. I was on Infinity Mountain and Devimon was there too. He told me that… that he was back and that he was going to come after us and… and kill us. He attacked me and then the nightmare ended."

Patamon was shocked by the news. Devimon back? No, he had destroyed him for good as Angemon five years ago. He was certain he had destroyed Devimon, but then again he thought he was destroyed too yet he was able to come back.

"Both nightmares seemed so real. I… I just don't know."

Patamon didn't know what to say to his partner. The nightmares could've been just that, nightmares, but Patamon had a feeling deep down that the second one was something much more. Perhaps it was a vision? He had no idea.

"Does your first nightmare have anything to do with the dark thoughts you said you still have because of the Dark World?"

TK nodded, "Yeah, and those thoughts are the reason I didn't want to see the others. It seems like all of my memories of them from our past adventures have been replaced with the evil ones I now have. I don't know if I could handle joining them just yet."

Patmaon listened to his partner's words. He wished that there was some way that he could help his partner get through this, but there wasn't. All he could do was comfort his scared, exhausted partner, and that's what he planned on doing. He flew into TK's arms who caught him and held him close.

"Patamon, I'm scared."

"TK, you are the strongest person I know, and we make the best team. We don't have to go see the others until you're ready. And about Devimon, even if he is back, we beat him before and we can, no, we will beat him again. Don't worry; I will protect you no matter what. Don't be scared."

TK looked into Patamon's eyes as Patamon smiled at the boy. TK smiled back and started petting his partner's head. For four years now he hadn't had anybody to confide in, no one to comfort him. Now, though, he had Patamon back, and he was so happy about that. No one, not Devimon, not the Digimon Emperor, and not even the Dark World could ever stop them. They were unbeatable; they were hope.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I still do not own digimon!

Sorry for the late update, but I've just been very busy lately. Thank you for all the reviews of the last few chapters. It sounds like a lot of people reading this story and this makes me want to keep on writing it. I hope you all keep reviewing. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and I apologize for the cliffhanger but I had to end the chapter at some point. Enjoy and review!

Chapter 9:

"Kari! KARI!"

Gatomon had watched her teenage partner in her nightmare for a long time now. She looked so frightened and in pain, and only recently she had started to fade in and out. She looked like Kari's TV did when it didn't have any signal. She was scared for her partner and didn't know what was going on.

All-of-a-sudden Kari stopped fading in and out and sat up panting heavily. She wiped her face with her bed sheets as she tried to wipe the cold sweat that had formed on her face away.

"Kari, thank goodness you're ok."

Kari flinched upon hearing her partner's voice, but once she realized it was Gatomon she relaxed. Kari nodded to show that she had heard her partner.

"What happened?"

Kari easily remembered her nightmare; it had seemed so real. She recounted what had happened to her partner.

"I.. I was in a different world. I'm not sure if it was the Digital World, but everything was dark like a black and white film. I could feel the darkness in this world, and there was an ocean. I was on the beach, and then these dark spirit things came out of the water and started chasing me. I could hear them yell at me telling me to 'come to their world.' I ran away as fast as I could, but I tripped and they almost got me. That was when I woke up."

Gatomon listened in shock at her partner's words. She never heard of a part of the Digital World that was like what she described. She could tell her partner was shaken up by the nightmare, but she couldn't think of any way to help her out. She wanted to say that it was only a nightmare, but deep down she knew that wasn't true.

"Kari, you know I won't let anything bad happen to you right? I'm sure Tai and the rest of the other digidestineds are with me, too."

"I know Gatomon, but…"

She was stopped as her alarm clock went off. She looked at it and saw that it was time to get ready for school. She sighed wanting for it to be the weekend, but it was only Thursday.

Kari started her normal routine of getting ready for school and she put on her school uniform. She checked her bag to make sure she had all she needed before walking into the kitchen. She was greeted by her mother who had made her a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.

"Good morning Kari!"

"Morning mom," she responded tiredly.

"Rough night?"

"You have no idea."

Her mom was going to question her further, but luckily Tai had stormed into the kitchen. He was late as always.

"Morning mom, Kari."

"Good morning Tai. You better hurry before you're late, again."

"I know, I know."

Kari watched her brother practically inhale his bowl of oatmeal before saying good-bye and running out the door of the apartment. Kari laughed as she finished her breakfast. She walked to the door and said good-bye to her mother. She stuffed Gatomon into her school bag before walking out the door. She sighed as she walked the usual walk she took to get to her school. She just couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. To her, it felt like darkness was in the air, but she didn't know what was causing it. Was it still her nightmare affecting her? Or was it something more?

* * *

The warmth of the Digital World was different to him. He had been stuck in the dark whirlpool constantly surrounded by darkness for a good amount of time, the exact amount of time he was uncertain. All he knew and all he cared about was that he was back. He now was going to get his revenge, something he'd been craving for a long time now. The thought of him fulfilling his revenge brought an evil smile to his face.

He inspected the upcoming land. Finally, he wouldn't have to fly over the ocean anymore. It's not that he was scared, he never was scared, but being so close to water didn't put himself at ease. Dragomon would be able to snatch him up at any time when he was over water, and if Dragomon had found out his intentions he certainly would bring him back to the Dark World.

He sighed in relief as he now was flying over land. He would have been lost trying to find the child of Hope if he hadn't attacked him. Now that his Evil Touch was affecting the boy, he would be able to find him as soon as he was close enough to the boy.

The boy was lucky he hadn't found Devimon in real life, not just in a dream. If the boy was there for real, then the attack would have instantly killed him, but the boy was dreaming. However, his Evil Touch was still very strong and it certainly would have terrible effects on the boy. What effects he wasn't sure, but they would definitely hinder him.

As he flew over the land of the Digital World he came across what looked like a big flying rock. It was pea-shaped. Devimon didn't know what to make of it; it wasn't every day that you saw a flying rock. As he flew by it, though, he could feel the evil energy that leaked out of it. He wanted to explore the rock, but he had more important things to do. The child of hope needed, no, he was, going to be killed, and it was going to be by the work of his hand.

* * *

He yawned as he sat in his throne thinking to himself. He was tired from his soccer practice, and his comfy throne had made him even more tired. He had a good hour or two to himself before the digidestineds showed up to the Digital World. He spent this time trying to plan how he was going to capture the blonde child and his Patamon. He knew it would be easy enough to sneak up on them, and he'd be able to know exactly where they were in the Digital World at any point. He was going to make the Patamon his slave as long as the two stayed away from the other digidestineds. The question, though, is what to do with the blonde boy. Should he let the blonde boy run safely back to the other digidestineds? He shook his head and a stern expression grew on his face. This digidestined had made things personal with him. Not only had he embarrassed him by saving his life, he was able to destroy all the dark rings on the Tyrannomon and save the digidestineds. No, he had to capture this boy. But then came the problem of the boy escaping somehow. He needed the boy's help to defeat the other digidestineds, but how would he get the boy to help him. He never would agree to work against his friend. It wasn't like he could slap a dark ring on the boy… or could he?

He smiled and laughed as an idea came to him. Yes that was what he was going to do. He had never tried putting a dark ring on a human, but how much harm could it be? Besides, if he put a dark ring on the digidestined, then how was it going to be destroyed? Dark rings had to be destroyed, and only digimon were strong enough to break them. Was a digimon going to attack a human? The attack would certainly kill or severely injure the boy. Just when he thought his idea was perfect, he thought of something else which made him frown. Dark rings only worked if there was a control spire in the area. At the moment less than half of the Digital World was under the control of his spires. It takes a long time to create a control spire in an area of the Digital World, and with school and soccer he had been too busy to make too many control spires. This was going to present a problem, unless he would be able to form a stronger version of the dark rings.

When he saw that the blonde digidestined was located just outside of a cluster of control spire areas, he decided that he'd quickly form a control spire in that area and set out with two dark rings. He smiled as he started typing away frantically on his keyboard; there was much work to be done.

Trees surrounded them on all sides. The forest was usually packed with all kinds of digimon, but none were to be found. No digimon could even be heard from the forest. The only sound that filled the air was the rustling of the leaves and the panting of each other's breaths.

Both of them were tired as they walked through the forest of the Digital World. Patamon was tired from all the fighting against dark ring controlled digimon and all the control spire destroying. TK was tired from all the walking around and from his starvation and dehydration. Over the past five days all he had eaten were a couple of berries and a couple gulps of water. His body was not happy with him, and he was suffering because of it. Also, he still couldn't shake off the negative feeling his nightmares had given him. Despite all this, he smiled as he thought about their progress.

Since he woke up from his nightmare, the pair had decided that TK was in no shape to go back and see the others. They would wait until he felt like he was ready to meet them again. TK, though, didn't want to just wander aimlessly around the Digital World without a cause or purpose. He had Patamon tell him more about the Digimon Emperor. The more he learned about him, the more he wished he wouldn't have saved him. He not only was hurting his friends, but he was hurting the digimon of the Digital World and was planning on taking it over. This reminded him of how Devimon used black gears to control digimon, but he instantly stopped thinking about Devimon as his mind started filling with dark thoughts that put him in pain.

That was one thing that had kept TK's mind in a state of confusion throughout the day. He knew his dream of Matt beating up on him was just a nightmare, but was his meeting with Devimon just a nightmare? He wanted to think that it was, but he couldn't. When Devimon had attacked him, dark thoughts more intense than those of the Digital World had filled his mind. During the day the same dark thoughts would randomly fill his mind, and they were triggered by little things. When Patamon had digivolved earlier that day to battle some dark ring controlled digimon thoughts of his nightmare of MagnaAngemon battling MetalGarurumon filled his mind. The thoughts sent a sharp, agonizing pain through him, and the pain didn't stop until the dark thoughts stopped. Even right after he came out of the Dark World he hadn't experienced anything like this. He knew it had to be from Devimon's attack, and that didn't really ease his mood.

The two of them had agreed that they would try to slow the Digimon Emperor's plans of controlling the Digital World by destroying the dark rings on the controlled digimon. It was while Pegasusmon was fighting some digimon that TK spotted a control spire. He wondered what it was, but he then felt darkness come from the black skyscraper. He had Pegasusmon destroy it, and when he did all the dark rings had stopped working. They made this their plan of action, to destroy all the control spires that came across their path. Today they had destroyed four control spires and had to battle over fifty dark ring controlled digimon. Most of them were rookie level digimon, but there were a few champion digimon as well. Pegasusmon held his own pretty well, but he did take a few hits here and there.

"How are you doing Patamon," he asked his partner who was perched on top of his head at the moment.

"I'm tired, but fine."

"You're not hurt are you? That Thundermon looked like he got a good wallop on you."

"No, Pegasusmon is strong. In fact, he's so strong I didn't even feel like I got hit at all."

TK smiled at his partner. He knew that Thundermon's attack had hurt his partner, but if his partner was able to joke around then it wasn't as bad as he had thought.

His stomach growled and he looked down at it. He was so exhausted and needed food and water. Patamon was in the same boat as he was, and he knew that the two wouldn't be able to carry on if they stayed in this state.

Before they knew it, they were out of the forest. There was a clearing, and TK looked around to see that the clearing was actually a big circle that was surrounded by the forest. TK thought this to be weird, but he stopped thinking about it as he saw a building in the middle of the clearing. He quickened his pace, and as they got closer his nose caught scent of something that smelled really good. It was definitely food, and it smelled like it was the best food in the world. TK's mouth started to water and he drooled a little bit as he smiled at their luck.

"Patamon, does that smell like food to you?"

"Yes it does! I can't believe we found a restaurant. Talk about good luck."

Now that they were closer to the restaurant, TK couldn't help but be reminded of Digitamamon's restaurant from so many years ago. It was the one where Joe was stuck working for a long time to work off his food bill. Matt had found him there and tried to help work off his bill. It was there when TK and Tai had found them and saved them. Well, Matt and Gabumon really saved the day because that was the first time Gabumon digivolved to ultimate. TK frowned at the memory; he missed being with his brother and his friends. The thought of his friends brought back some of the dark thoughts that had constantly filled his mind and he the same pain he had felt before returned. He raised his hands to his head and closed his eyes.

After a short while he finally was able to gain control over himself. Patamon was now flying next to him and was looking at him, concern etched across his face.

"Was it those dark thoughts again TK?"

TK just nodded. Patamon had no idea how he could help his partner. He was so useless. It must have showed on his face because TK then said,

"Patamon, I know you are always here for me. I will be safe as long as you are here."

TK then grabbed the digimon and gave him a hug. He was so thankful for his partner. While he was in France and when he was in the Digital World he had no one to comfort him. There was no one he could or trusted to tell about his thoughts and feelings. That was different, though, now that Patamon was here.

He let the digimon go and they both walked into the restaurant. TK thought that they should have been more careful in case there were dark ring controlled digimon in the restaurant, but their hungry stomachs made them forget about it.

"Hello? Is there anybody here?"

"Finally a customer! Tapirmon go seat our guests."

TK and Patamon looked around the restaurant for the familiar voice; it definitely was Digitamamon's voice. Instead, though, they found a digimon they had never seen before. The digimon floated to them on what looked like a cloud. The digimon had brown fur and a bluish sort of belly. It had a helmet on its head and it had two horns.

"Welcome! Oh, a human and a digimon. No doubt you are a digidestined and you are his partner. Well, come on. Let's find a table."

The two followed the digimon to one of the tables and sat down.

"Our chef will be with you to offer our food choices in a second. However, I advise you don't order anything unless you are able to pay for it. Our chef doesn't like it when guests don't pay."

"Nonsense Tapirmon. These guests will be eating for free today."

TK and Patamon looked at Digitamamon who was walking up to them. The digimon hadn't changed a bit. He was still an egg, nothing else really needed to be said.

"Hi Digitamamon."

"Hello there digidestined. I will talk, but first I will make your meals for you. You both look famished."

"Thank you very much."

Digitamamon walked away leaving the Tapirmon standing, well, floating there alone at the table with TK and Patamon. TK looked over at Patamon who seemed to be in deep thought. What could his partner possibly be thinking about right now? His partner spoke up,

"Hey Tapirmon, do you know much about dreams?"

"Of course I do. Dreams are my specialty."

TK frowned in confusion. He had no idea what kind of digimon this Tapirmon was. Patamon saw his parnter's confusion and said,

"TK, Tapirmon is a digimon that knows about dreams. He may be able to help you with your nightmares."  
TK wasn't so sure; he didn't want to tell random digimon about his nightmares. But if his partner believed that this digimon could help, then maybe he could.

"Could you tell me more about your nightmares?"

TK sighed. He then explained how he had had nightmares about his friends. He continued telling the digimon how these dreams were causing him to think dark thoughts when he saw them or they were even mentioned. He explained the pain he felt whenever the thoughts were triggered. Tapirmon listened and nodded his head here and there. When he finished, Tapimron said,

"From what you are telling me it sounds like something has happened to you. I respect your decision of not telling me what happened and I won't inquire further. What I can tell you, though, is that the pain you feel because of your dark thoughts are caused by whatever has happened to you. You will not be able to rid your nightmares and these thoughts until what has caused them is destroyed. Even then, I still think you will be affected by them for a long time unless you can master your thoughts."

This wasn't exactly what TK had wanted to hear. His thoughts were going to stick with him even after he defeated Devimon. He wanted to talk to Tapirmon more, but Digitamamon walked out with their food. He sat it down at their table and called out,

"Bon Appetite!"

TK and Patamon hungrily looked at all the food. There were sandwiches and soups along with two big glasses of water. Patamon started gulping down the food and TK followed suit. Before he knew it, all the food was gone. He had let Patamon eat most of it, but he still had a good amount of food. The two let out a sigh of pure pleasure as their stomachs were now full and their thirsts were now quenched.

"Well, how was it?"

"How was it? It was awesome Digitamamon! Thank you very much."

"I agree. We owe you!"

"Nonsense. I never got a chance to thank you digidestineds for defeating the Dark Masters so consider this my thanks."

The three digimon and TK talked and talked for a good while. They were talking about why the restaurant wasn't having many customers when TK instantly felt darkness coming near. He recognized the darkness as the same he felt in his nightmare about Devimon and he could only guess what that meant. Instantly the darkness intensified and TK fell off his seat because of the pain. He screamed out in agony.

"TK! What's happening?"

At that moment the ceiling to the restaurant was torn off. Patamon looked up and fear rose up in him. It was Devimon.

He had to digivolve, but with TK being in the state that he was he couldn't. Devimon's evil laugh could be heard from up above.

"I told you that I would find you, child of hope. Now it is time to die."

Patamon had to get TK out of here before Devimon attacked. How was he going to do it, though? As if they had read his mind, Digitamamon responded,

"Go! Save your digidestined and yourself. We can hold him off."

"But…"

"NO BUT'S! JUST DO IT NOW!"

Devimon had listened in on the conversation and started laughing again.

"You two pathetic digimon think you can hold me off? So be it. Evil Touch!"

Devimon reached his claw out for Tapirmon and grabbed him. He pulled his claw out of the restaurant and disappeared outside the restaurant.

"TAPIRMON!"

Digitamamon rushed outside of the restaurant. Patamon took this time to draw his attention back to TK.

"TK?"

The boy was now starting to stand up. The pain TK felt was much less now, but he still felt sore all over from the previous attack. He concluded that this was because Devimon was occupied with Digitamamon and Tapirmon. TK looked up at his partner.

"I'm fine. Now, let's go help them out. You need to digivolve to champion."

"We can't digivolve, though, rem…"

"No, you are going to digivolve; you have to. Are you ready?"

"Yupp!"

TK raised his digivice and a green and white light emanated from it. Patamon started glowing and he changed forms quickly. TK had to cover his eyes, but once the light dimmed down he was able to look again. He saw Angemon, the male angel digimon with a gray helmet holding an yellow rod, standing before him.

"Go get him Angemon."

Angemon nodded and flew outside the hole in the ceiling. TK ran for the door of the restaurant. He just was about to open the door when something burst through the wall right beside him. He looked as a white blur flew by and skidded to a halt. He watched as the egg cracked revealing two yellow eyes and two green legs bust out of the bottom of the egg.

"He's going to pay for what he did to Tapirmon."

Digitamamon rushed back outside and TK followed the digimon. He watched as Angemon and Devimon were in mid-flight fighting away. Memories of the battle between the two digimon from so many years ago flooded his mind. Worry filled him as he remembered how the battle had ended; he could not lose Angemon again.

"Nightamare Syndrome!"

Digitamamon sent a blast of dark energy towards Devimon. Devimon was expecting the blow and ducked. Angemon was now in the way of the attack, but he quickly dodged the attack too. Angemon was too caught up on dodging the attack, and he was hit by Devimon's Evil Touch attack. Angemon, the normally white angel, now turned a dark purplish black as Devimon's claw forced its way further into the angel's body. TK watched in horror as Devimon smiled in grim satisfaction. The demon took out his claw which was now covered in feathers and blood.

Angemon fell to the ground as blood rushed out from his stab wounds. TK ran over to the angel and kneeled beside his partner. Fear rushed through him as the angel did not move at all. Then Angemon started glowing and de digivolved to Patamon. Patamon then de digivolved into Tokomon who turned into Poyomon. Poyomon started flickering in and out like the static of a television.

"NOO! Poyomon…. Don't…. don't go!"

Tears flowed out from his eyes. He didn't care that Devimon had now defeated Digitamamon and was walking over to where he was kneeled beside his slowly dying partner. TK scooped up his partner and held him close to his body. He just couldn't lose his partner again.

"Poyomon, please don't go. I need you… I… I love you."

A golden light started to shine from TK. He could feel the same power that he used to get out of the Dark World rising up inside of him. He focused on his partner as he tried to channel the power to his partner. Poyomon, who still had stab wounds, was still a purplish black color, and was still flickering, started to glow with a golden light as well. TK could feel his energy go down very quickly, but he watched in awe as his partner stopped flickering. Poyomon's wounds slowly started to cover up and heal. The golden light slowly dimmed out and once it was gone TK felt like he had no energy left. He looked at his partner, tears still falling, but he smiled as Poyomon opened his eyes. His partner was still alive.

"Aww, now wasn't that… heartwarming? Too bad it was all worth nothing. EVIL TOUCH!"


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

Here we are again with another chapter. I haven't had the time to read through it and correct grammar and misspelling errors so please let me know if there are a lot and I will go back and edit it. Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter and please keep reviewing. Hope you like this chapter!

* * *

Chapter 10:

TK hugged his partner as tight as he could. He couldn't believe that this was the end; that he was finally going to die by the hands of Devimon. It really was, though. He closed his eyes as he waited for Devimon's claw to pierce through him. Suddenly, an explosion was heard and he heard Devimon cry out in pain. A rush of wind blew his hair; he figured it was Devimon flying by him. He heard the ground crunch as something landed hard into it. TK couldn't stand to not look anymore. He opened his eyes and saw Devimon was getting off the ground with a very angry face on, but the face was not directed at him. TK got to his feet and turned around. Flying in the air was a Unimon, and on top of the Unimon was the Digimon Emperor. The Digimon Emperor was talking into his digivice, but he made no acknowlegement to TK. The Emperor had his eyes fixed on Devimon and he had an evil smirk on his face.

"You! Who are you? Another digidestined?" the devil asked with anger.

The Emperor started laughing. "No, I am not one of those pathetic children. I am the Digimon Emperor, supreme ruler of the Digital World. And you are going to be a great addition to my many slaves. Prepare to be under my control."

The Emperor threw one of the two dark rings he had been holding towards Devimon. The ring flew high-speed towards Devimon. The unsuspecting Devimon didn't have time to react. The ring circled around his neck. Devimon just laughed and put his hands on the dark ring. He easily destroyed the dark ring, and the Digimon Emperor looked at the digimon with a look of shock across his face.

"What? But… how?"

"Darkness cannot be controlled you foolish child. All of the digimon you have under your command are pathetic, weak digimon. None of them have the power of pure darkness. Even the powers of light can be controlled and can be tainted for evil. Darkness, however, cannot and will not ever be controlled."

The Emperor's look of shock turned into one of anger. TK was actually worried for the Emperor; Devimon was going to destroy the Emperor. He wanted to help, but Poyomon was in no shape to battle, seeing that he had fallen asleep again. He, himself, was also very tired from using the power of his crest to keep his partner alive. He looked at the demon digimon and the evil Emperor and saw that they both were focused on each other. He decided that it was now his time to take leave. He ran back for the trees of the forest. He found himself again running as fast as he deemed safe because of all the branches, vines, and bushes that were trying to trip him. The cool air of the forest flew by his face as he continued his sprint. The silent forest was only filled with the noise of his run: snapping twigs, leaves rustling, and branches breaking. He didn't look back, but he hoped that the Emperor would be alright. Somehow, though, he knew he would.

* * *

He looked right into the demon digimon's eyes with anger emanating from him. The digimon had been able to destroy his dark ring so easily. Was what the digimon said about darkness being unable to be controlled really true? He couldn't worry about that now, he would think on what the demon had said once he was back in his fortress.

The air between the two opponents was filled with anger and uneasiness. The other was waiting for the other to make a wrong move before they let out their attacks. The Emperor didn't like his odds because the digimon had been able to defeat the blonde digidestined. He had shown up right when the demon was about to kill the digidestined. He smiled as he realized that he had saved the blonde boy and that now they both were even. The smile faded, though, as the demon made a quick thrust with his claw outstretched towards him.

His Unimon quickly dodged the attack and the demon flew right by them.

"Unimon, I command you to keep as far of a distance as possible from the digimon."

Unimon flew away from the demon digimon and he kept his eyes focused on the digimon ready for the next time he made another quick move. The demon laughed and said,

"What, is the mighty 'Emperor' afraid of the powerful Devimon?"

Devimon, that was the digimon's name. He had never heard of a digimon by that name before, but he knew that the digimon was very strong. He hoped his reinforcements would get here before the digimon destroyed him.

"Death Hand!"

The demon outstretched its claw and a blast of dark energy flew right for him. Unimon got out of the way, but it was too close. Unimon had been too worried about dodging the attack that he didn't see Devimon fly right for him.

"Evil Touch"

Devimon's claw swatted him and Unimon down to the ground. They hit the ground hard and he was thrown off of Unimon. Devimon dove for Unimon and was just about a foot away when he heard the sound of another attack.

"Twin Scicles!"

Two pink blades of energy hit Devimon and caused an explosion. Devimon was forced back by the power of the attack. The Emperor smiled; his reinforcements were here.

"Volcanic Strike!"

A fireball was sent for Devimon and landed a direct hit. He heard Devimon cry out in pain.

"Twin Scicles!"

"Volcanic Strike!

"Aerial Attack!"

The combined attacks of the dark ring controlled digimon combined and hit Devimon causing a massive explosion. He covered his eyes so that they wouldn't be affected by the smoke that had formed. The smell of fire and burnt grass filled the air. Silence followed as the smoke cleared. He uncovered his eyes, but he saw nothing. The demon digimon was either destroyed or he had fled the scene. He knew that the digimon wouldn't be destroyed that easily so he looked up in the air for a sign of the demon digimon flying away. He caught a glimpse of a black blur before it disappeared behind the trees. Now, he looked around for the blonde digidestined and his partner, but they were long gone as well. He uttered a low growl and said,

"No digimon that refuses my control will be allowed to live. You will be destroyed Devimon."

He walked over to Unimon and mounted the horse-digimon.

"Back to the fortress, all of you."

Unimon and Snimon took to the air and flew next to each other as they headed back for the Emperor's base. Monochromon stayed on the ground and walked in the same direction using his fire to clear a pathway for him through the forest.

The Emperor now had some planning to do. Devimon was a threat and needed to be removed. The blonde digidestined and his partner were going to help him destroy the demon digimon. Before that happened, he needed to strengthen his dark rings. He also had to build more control spires to make the other digidestineds basically useless. There was much work that needed to be done and he thought on all of it as he flew off into the evening sky.

* * *

They were hiding inside one of the empty buildings of the digital town they had trespassed into. Luckily, none of the dark ring controlled digimon had spotted them as they snuck into the town. Yolei, Kari, Tai, and their partners tried to catch their breaths. Their job was to sneak into the town and get closer to the control spire. Then, Gatomon and Hawkmon would digivolve and destroy the control spire while Agumon tried to cover for them.

"That was easy enough, huh," Tai said in between puffs of air.

They all jumped as the door to the building flew open; apparently they had been spotted. Two Guardromon were standing outside the door.

"INTRUDER ALERT!"

Alarms blared throughout the city. Agumon used his fire to create a hole in the building and the group ran out of the building just in time. The Guardromon had sent two missiles into the building which caused the building to explode and crumble down. They ran as fast as they could through the city.

"Gatomon, digivolve now!"

"You too Hawkmon."

Lights came out of the upraised digivices and the two digimon started to glow. They changed into their new forms. Kari got on Nefertimon along with Tai and Agumon while Yolei got on Halsemon. The digimon took to the air and flew through the city dodging the many buildings. Guardromon now were flooding the streets everywhere and were sending missiles up at them. Kari formed an idea in her head as she was thrown many directions because of Nefertimon dodging the missiles.

"YOLEI! Fly to the control spire!"

"Gotcha!"

The control spire was located in the middle of the city. Kari could see the tall, black skyscraper about half a mile away; it was a huge city. Nefertimon nearly got hit by a missile, but had dodged it by an inch. They were going to be lucky if they made it to the control spire untouched.

Luck was in their favor, though, and they were finally about one hundred feet away from the spire.

"Yolei, fly straight for the control spire!"

The digimon directed their paths straight towards the control spire. The Guardromon were still firing at them, but they had very bad aim. Now they were only about fifteen feet away from the spire. Adrenaline rushed through her as she hoped her plan would work.

"Now fly straight up!"

Nefertimon and Halsemon obeyed and flew straight up. The missiles that were launched had missed them and hit the control spire instead. The spire was hit by fifty or more missiles and a huge explosion formed. Kari couldn't see Halsemon and Yolei, but she knew Tai was safe as his arms were still wrapped around her waist. Nefertimon broke out of her upwards dive and leveled out. Kari looked at where the control spire once was and as the smoke cleared she saw that the spire was destroyed. She smiled as she heard Tai's and Yolei's cheers.

Kari jumped off Nefertimon once they were on the ground. Nefertimon and Halsemon both dedigivolved.

"Now, to see if Izzy is right. Agumon, digivolve!"

Agumon started glowing and changing forms. Kari watched and remembered all the times in her last world where Agumon had digivolved like this. Now before the group stood Greymon, a big dinosaur-like digimon.

"I guess he was, like he usually is."

"Greymon! It's good to see you again!"

Greymon roared and spewed fire as he showed his joy of being able to digivolve again. Kari looked at her brother who was staring admirably at his digimon partner. She couldn't help but smile too as she watched the digimon.

"Well, now that that is settled I believe it's time to go back to the real world."

"I believe you're right Hawkmon."

The three humans and their partners walked out of the town back to where the television that would return them back home was. Greymon dedigivolved and walked next to Tai. The group talked about how their plan had gone and before they knew it they were at the television. They raised their digivices and a light emanated from the TV. The light sucked the group up and teleported them back to the real world.

* * *

Matt stared at the digimon that stood before him. It had been so long since he had seen Garurumon, but now he was standing right before him firing a beam of blue energy into the air. He smiled at the digimon.

"So, this is…"

"Garurumon," Matt finished for Davis.

"Cool."

Davis, Cody, Matt, and their digimon had been dodging the dark ring controlled digimon as they wandered through the forest. They finally found the control spire and destroyed it. It was then that Gabumon was able to digivolve to Garurumon proving Izzy's theory. Now they were walking back through the forest towards the TV. As they were walking, Matt couldn't help but feel as if something was just… wrong.

He heard wings fluttering from above and his attention was drawn to up above. He caught a glimpse of the demon digimon just as he disappeared behind the trees. An expression of horror was shown on his face as fear started to build up in him. Did he really just see Devimon?

"Uh… Matt… please tell me that you didn't just see what I saw."

"It can't be. Devimon can't be back."

Davis and Cody looked at him with expressions of confusion on their faces.

"Devimon?"

"Who's that?"

He ignored them, though, as he heard something coming towards them. He looked in the direction of the noise and saw a figure sprinting towards them. Matt once again found himself doubting his eyesight as he saw his brother standing in front of him.

He knew it was TK. The boy had messy blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and he had a slim, tall figure. He didn't wear a hat like Matt was used to seeing his brother in. Also, TK looked very slim exhausted. He had a sleeping Poyomon in his arms. Matt was thrown off, though, by the look of horror on the boy's face.

"TK? TK! It's you!"

Matt ran towards his brother, but TK started running away at full speed. Matt could hear his brother yelling in terror,

"Get away from me! Don't hurt Poyomon! Don't hurt me!"

Matt stopped as he tried to find his brother, but he was gone. He couldn't hear his brother running through the forest, and he couldn't see through the dense forest.

"TK! It's me, Matt, your brother! TK!"

Matt ran through the trees trying to find his brother, but to no luck. He couldn't hear or see anything except himself and the group behind him. He didn't want to, but he gave up knowing that it would be near impossible to find his brother in this forest.

His mind was racing as he tried to catch his breath. What had gotten into TK? Why would he run away from him after not seeing him for four years? Surely TK would've been able to recognize his own brother, but TK had looked at him as if he were one of the Dark Masters and was about to attack him. Matt sighed, he had come so close to being reunited with his brother. On the bright side, TK was alive and in the Digital World, but there were so many questions raised. And TK wouldn't be able to answer any of them because he had run off.

* * *

Dragomon sat in his throne room spinning his trident in his hands. He hated doing nothing, but that was all that he could do at the time. His plan was in action, and all he could do was wait.

The boy of hope was soon going to be dead. He knew that Devimon was going to destroy the child of hope because of what had happened in the past between the two. That was why Dragomon used Devimon for the job. Dragomon had given up on trying to retrieve the child back to the Dark World; there was too much of a chance that he would escape again. No, the child of hope needed to be removed.

With hope gone, the child of light would be easier to manipulate. He would be able to capture the child easier and he would be able to manipulate her light to make his darkness stronger. His thoughts were interrupted as a dark spirit entered his throne room.

"Master, I'm pleased to inform you that the child of light has started having her nightmares. We soon will have enough strength over her to bring her here."

Dragomon laughed at the news. He formed a puddle of water in mid air and an image of the child of light formed. He continued laughing as he stared at the child.

"Soon you will be mine!"


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon and I never will.

I have come to the point where my ideas for this story are slowly dwindling. I feel like my writing quality is getting worse and my story is getting less interesting. I do not want this to be the case, so I may take a break from my writing for a while. I am asking for any suggestions on how I can make the story more interesting, please leave any that you may have in a PM or review. I want this to be a good story because it seems like there are people reading it and there are starting to be more and more regular reviewers. Because of this, I don't want to put up a half-a** story. I am asking for your guys' help.

Anyways, here is the next chapter. Like I said, I'm taking a break so that I can re-gather some of my thoughts and make this story more interesting. Hope you like the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 11:

The cool morning air blew across his face as he walked through the city of Odaiba. The sun wasn't up yet, so the only light was that from the streetlights, buildings, and the cars driving by. He walked with his partner who was wearing one of his hooded sweatshirts as disguise.

Odaiba's city park was finally in sight. He walked past towering trees as he made way for the playground, the digidestineds' meeting place. He finally arrived and saw that he was the first one there.

Once Matt told Tai about what he had seen, Tai agreed that they needed another digidestined meeting. They had decided that they were going to meet early Friday morning before school started. Everyone was going to be there, including Mimi who had convinced her parents to let her visit Odaiba; she had just flown back to Odaiba last night and she was staying with Sora.

Matt took a seat on a swing along with his partner as they waited for the others to arrive. He looked annoyingly at his watch; he hated waiting for the others to show up, but he saw that he was six minutes early so he figured it would be at least ten minutes before everybody showed up.

He sighed as he thought about what had happened. He couldn't get TK out of his mind. The look of horror the boy had given him; it was as if he didn't even recognize him. He also had been carrying Poyomon. What had happened to Patamon that he was now in his baby form? Did it have something to do with Devimon?

He couldn't help but feel scared as he thought about the chance that Devimon could be back. He remembered how tough it was to beat Devimon. Angemon was the only one who stood a chance, and even he had to sacrifice himself to defeat Devimon. But he had defeated him, right? How could Devimon be back?

He looked up as he heard voices. They belonged to two girls and Matt knew who was walking up. Sora and Mimi appeared and walked up to the playground. Mimi saw Matt and squeaked in excitement. She ran up to him and gave him a choking hug.

"MATT!"

He gasped for air. "Mimi… you… you're choking… me…."

She let him go and apologized. Matt said hi to Sora as well. He started asking Mimi how her flight was and how she liked America when Tai and Kari arrived along with Izzy. Joe was last to show up; studying was the excuse he used for being late. Once they all were there they looked at Tai. Mimi spoke up,

"So what exactly is going on in the Digital World nowadays?"

They explained how the Digimon Emperor had shown up and started using control spires and dark rings to try to take over the Digital World. They also told her about the new digidestineds and about TK being missing.

"What else is up?" Sora asked Tai and Izzy. They were the ones that called these digidestined meetings and so far they haven't told them anything new. When Izzy had a curious expression as well, they all looked at Tai for further explanation as to why they had to wake up so early this morning.

"Well," Tai said not sure if he should be the one to explain or not. He looked at Matt before he said, "I think Matt should be the one to tell you."

They all turned their attention to the blonde digidestined and his partner. He looked at his partner who nodded showing his support. Matt took in a deep breath, and then let it out.

"I hate to say it… but yesterday I saw Devimon."

Gasps and looks of horror were evident as the group listened even more closely.

"I… I saw him yesterday as Davis, Cody, and I were destroying a control spire. We just destroyed it and Gabumon had digivolved. I heard wings and looked up into the sky. I looked up and saw Devimon right before he flew out of sight."

"Are you sure it was Dev…"

"I know what I saw. Devimon is back."

Mimi gasped again obviously not thrilled about this news.

"Back? You mean like…"

"I mean he's back, Mimi, and that's not the only interesting thing that happened yesterday. Right after I saw Devimon I heard something coming for us. I looked towards the noise and… I saw TK."

If Izzy's mouth could open any more, it did as he listened to his friend. He remembered that Tentomon said Patamon was searching for TK who he thought was in the Digital World. They hadn't heard from Patamon since then, though, and Izzy started to fear that TK was gone for forever and that Patamon had been captured by the Emperor. If what Matt had said was true, that meant that TK was back, but where was TK now?

"Matt, if you saw TK then where is he?"

"Well… that the thing. Once he noticed us he looked right at me but… he looked horrified. It seemed as if he thought that I was a Dark Master and was about to kill him. He also had his partner in his arms, but it wasn't Patamon, it was Poyomon. Once I started moving towards him he ran off in the other direction as fast as he could. I stopped because I wasn't expecting this and.. and he got away," Matt finished his story and looked down at his feet. He didn't want them to fall, but tears started to form in his eyes. He tried to blink them away, but once one tear escaped him more and more formed and he gave up trying to hold them back. He felt someone's arm wrap around his shoulder to help comfort him. How could he be comforted, though? He hadn't seen his mother or his brother in four years. Now, his mother and grandparents were dead, and he finally found TK but he ran away from him. TK looked at him like he was some sort of monster or something. What had happened to his brother? Had he lost him for good?

Sora stood next to the crying teen with her arm around his shoulders. She knelt down so that her face was level with his. She wasn't used to the boy crying like this, in fact, she wasn't used to him showing much of any emotion at all. Ever since his brother moved away for good four years ago, Matt had become different. She thought he finally was starting to come around again once he heard that Patamon thought TK was in the Digital World, but now? She lifted the boy's head so that his eyes were fixed onto hers. She spoke as calmly as she could,

"Matt, from what you are telling me it means that TK is alive and in the Digital World. That means that we can find him, and we will find him. I'm sure he will turn around once we find him."

Matt looked into her eyes and he instantly felt calmer. It made him feel better knowing that he had friends who cared about him and would help him get his brother back.

"Thanks Sora."

She smiled and got back on her feet as he wiped his tears away.

"So it's settled!" Mimi said happily as she stood on her feet. Everyone looked at her confused.

"What do you mean Mimi?"

"We all are going to the Digital World after school today!"

"What?"

"Yeah! We're going to find TK and defeat Devimon!"

Everyone was still looking at Mimi, but smiles started to form as they started to nod.

"That sounds good."

"It is Friday, why not?'

Even Joe agreed to go, "I guess I can take one night off of studying."

Once they all agreed on a time to meet in the computer lab in the school, they started to leave the park. Matt left the park with Gabumon in a much better mood. Hope grew inside him as he realized that he might finally have TK back by the end of the day. A smile formed on his face as the sun finally rose and was seen from the horizon.

* * *

"No! NO!"

He hit himself out of frustration as he looked at an image of a dark ring on his screen. He couldn't think of any way he could strengthen his dark ring. He tried to strengthen the power the dark ring had, but the ring could not hold that much power. It would break because of the amount of stress on the ring.

"Master, what are you doing?"

"The dark ring just isn't strong enough. It cannot support all the strength I need it to hold."

Wormon spoke his thoughts, "Have you tried a different shape? I never was very fond of rings anyways."

That was it! A ring wasn't strong enough, but if there was a different shape, then maybe it would hold. He typed on his keyboard and another image of a dark ring popped up next to the other ring. He continued typing and the two rings morphed into each other. They connected and when it was finished there was now a picture of a spiral. He laughed evilly at his new creation. He looked at the map of the Digital World and memorized the location of the red dot.

"Now it's time to go get that digidestined."

* * *

TK listened to the sounds of the forest from the top of a tree branch. The forest was unnaturally quiet. A light wind causing the leaves to rustle and the branches to sway back and forth was the only noise that could be heard besides his and his partner's slow breathing. The afternoon sun shined through the trees causing the leaves to shine as they reflected the sun's rays. TK sat there admiring the beauty of the forest.

He finally was able to recover after seeing his brother. When he saw Matt his mind instantly remembered his nightmare. He started to relive the nightmare and when Matt had come running towards him TK thought he was going to attack him. He ran away as fast and as far as he could. Now, he finally had got the nightmare out of his head.

He didn't feel any better, though. He felt terrible for running away from his brother. Surely his brother was hurt by his reaction, and it was all his fault. He scolded himself for running away. He really wanted to see his brother and the other digidestineds again, but whenever he thought about them his nightmares returned. He wished there was some way he could get over the nightmares, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't.

He sighed and looked down at his partner. TK was worried about his partner because Poyomon still hadn't woke up yet. He feared that his digimon partner was dead, but every time he thought that he put his ear to the digimon and he could hear him breathing softly. Somehow TK had been able to save his partner from deleting, but would Poyomon ever wake up again? He felt like his partner was gone again, like he had been the last four years, even though he was in his arms.

"Please wake up Poyomon."

He hugged his partner tight, but the digimon continued to sleep. TK didn't know what to do, but he did know he had to get out of this tree. He didn't know if he was in a control spire region or if he'd come into contact with any dark ring controlled digimon, but he couldn't stand being in that tree any longer.

He jumped out of the tree and landed softly on his feet. He kept his ears open listening for anything that meant trouble. Devimon could be close by, and if he was then his only hope was to run away from the demon.

TK was reminded of how close he had come to losing Angemon to Devimon again. He knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he lost his partner again. He didn't want Angemon to fight Devimon again, he wanted Devimon just tot be gone. That was impossible, though. Angemon was the only one who was able to defeat Devimon five years ago, and deep down he knew that he was going to be the only one to defeat him again, even if it meant he had to sacrifice himself to do it.

"Aeiral Attack!"

"Twin Scicles!"

TK ran as fast as he could so he could dodge the attack. He dove to avoid the explosion that was caused by the two attacks. Poyomon fell out of his arms as he hit the ground.

"Poyomon!"

"AERIAL ATTACK!"  
"TWIN SCICLES!"

TK ran for his partner, scooped him up, and started running as fast as he could. The attacks landed close to him, though, and the explosion that followed forced him into the air. He was sent flying through branches, bushes, and vines. He landed hard on the ground and slowly got to his feet. He could feel the pain from all the scratches that had formed on the exposed parts of his skin. He looked at his partner and was relieved to find that he hadn't been hurt.

He turned as he heard the Digimon Emperor's laughter. As soon as he turned he saw two black blurs flying towards him at a high speed. TK ran out of the path of the blurs, but the objects continued to follow him. He ran away from them, but he knew they were getting closer. He was knocked back as one of the blurs ran right into his chest, where he was holding Poyomon. The other blur hit his arm. He felt something wrap around his arm and his mind went blank. He opened his eyes and smiled as he saw his master walk towards him.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Sorry for the late update, but like I said before I needed to take a break from writing this. The good news is that I have the rest of the story completely planned out except for the ending. I can't decided if it should be a "darker" or "happier" ending yet. Any advice on what you as a reader would rather have or what would best suit the story is appreciated. Thank you for all the reviews that I have received for the story, a special thank you to the regular reviewers. I find it so amazing that I am only on Chapter 12 and there are already 46 reviews. THANKS AGAIN! Anyways, here's Chapter 12. Apologize for misspellings/grammar errors, yada yada yada, and I hope you guys like it!

* * *

Chatper 12:

Kari sighed as Nefertimon destroyed another control spire. She stared up at the evening sky while she listened to the sound of a control spire crumbling to the ground. She had to say that she felt left out and, even with her partner keeping her company, lonely. They, all the digidestineds save for TK, had met up in the computer lab once the school day was finished. There they decided that all the digimon that could digivolve, all the new digidestineds' and Kari's, would go with their partner's to destroy control spires. The older digidestineds were going to search for TK and Devimon in areas that didn't have control spires. Kari felt that she should be searching for TK, not destroying control spires. She was one of the original eight digidestineds and she was the only one, save for Matt of course, who really knew and understood TK. She also missed TK so much and wanted to be the first to see him. They had been the best of friends when they were young, and even when he moved away they had continued to keep in touch for the first year. After the battle against Diaboromon, though, they had lost complete contact. Matt said it was because of TK's mom, and Kari knew that it was the reason. TK wouldn't stop talking to her completely unless he had to. She had hoped that someday TK would return for good and they would go back to being best friends, but that day hadn't come yet. She was excited about the chance of the older digidestineds finding TK, but as she thought on that she became discouraged that she wasn't looking for him herself.

"Kari, you ok?"

Yolei walked up to her as their digimon flew up to them. She and Kari had gone different ways than Davis and Cody.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Tired."

Yolei nodded her understanding, it was getting late.

"Why don't we call it a night and return to the computer lab? We can wait for the others there."

Kari nodded in agreement. The rest of the night flew by for her.

Before she knew it she was sitting in the computer lab watching Davis and Cody return from the Digital World. They apparently didn't have any trouble destroying control spires. Neither they nor Kari and Yolei had met the Digimon Emperor. Kari couldn't help but worry about the older digidestineds. What if the Digimon Emperor had decided to go after them? She stopped worrying, though, as she realized that they could easily defend themselves since they were in areas without control spires.

Kari looked around at her new friends. As she did so, she couldn't help but stare at Davis. She felt her hormones kick in as she found herself looking at his slim figure. He was pretty muscular from all the soccer training he did. He looked really nice, and the little, ok huge, crush that he had on her was starting to seem cute to her; the original annoying-ness of it had passed over.

She was pulled out of her thoughts as a bright light filled the room. They moved away from the computer as the six older digidestineds landed hard on the floor. She heard their groans of pain from the landing and Kari couldn't help but feel good about their hard landing. 'Serves them right for not letting me go with them to search for TK.' TK! She quickly looked around and saw that TK was not with them. So they hadn't found him.

They all sat around in a circle talking about what had happened while they were in the Digital World. Kari looked at Matt and saw that he was staying quiet. She wanted to talk to him and see how he was doing, but she didn't want to make a scene. So she sat quietly in her seat as the day grew older.

Finally it was time for all of them to leave. They walked outside together and Kari tried to get close to Matt to talk, but he walked away at a fast pace. He clearly was troubled by tonight. She had to make sure that she talked to him tomorrow. She walked with Gatomon, Tai, and Agumon to her apartment. They talked, well mostly Tai, about what had happened in the Digital World in further detail. Kari half listened to her brother as they walked. Finally they were back in their apartment. Kari instantly went to her room after saying good night to her family. She plopped on her bed and thought about all that had been on her mind. She found herself flipping from thinking about TK to Davis. Time went by and she finally was too tired to stay awake. She climbed into her bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

She woke up when she heard the sound of ocean waves hitting the shore. She rubbed her eyes open tiredly and looked around her. Behind her was a forest and in front of her was a dreary, gray ocean. Off to her sides stretched an endless gray-sanded beach. Actually, now that she realized it, everything was either gray or black. She could feel that this was a place for evil and she was on her toes ready for something or someone to attack her. As she looked around, though, she found she was alone.

She instantly realized that this was the same place as her previous nightmare. As she realized this she instantly looked at the ocean watching for the dark creatures of this world to appear from out of it. Right on cue, she saw the dark shadow-like creatures walk out of the dark ocean. Behind them, though, rose something she never saw before.

A huge digimon, at least she thought it was a digimon, rose out of the water. It was a gray-ish blue and was covered in tentacles. It's head looked like a squid and it had two red wings coming out of its back, or maybe they were fins. She noticed that the digimon didn't have a very good fashion style because he wore a purple pearl necklace and chains on his arm with a gold buckle fastened around its ankle. Then the digimon started to talk.

"Child of Light, come to this world. Give up on hope and come be my wife. You and I together will be unstoppable. Not only would we rule the Dark World, but we would extend our rule to the Digital World. Will you join me?"

Kari was caught off guard by the digimon's proposal. Her be a digimon's wife? She laughed at the idea.

"Of course not. I never will serve you. You are evil, and I destroy all evil, with the help of my friends of course."

The evil digimon laughed. "You call the digidestineds your friends? One of your friends has run off and is now helping serve the Digimon Emperor. Your other friends who went to search for him didn't want to bring you along because they didn't want you to get in the way. Even the digidestineds your age don't want you around. Can't you see that everything they do that is nice to you is only to make you feel better? They don't really want to be with you. I mean, right now they are talking about you behind your back. They don't want you with them; they want you gone."

Kari instantly was filled with anger at the digimon's words. Of course her friends loved her and wanted to be with her. But did they? As she thought on the digimon's words she couldn't help but see the truth in his words, well, some of them. What did he mean that one of her friends had gone to serve the Digimon Emperor? He obviously was referring to TK, but TK wouldn't be associated with the Digimon Emperor. The next part about her friends not letting her go with them to find TK, though, was true. They didn't want her to be with them, and she had already formed her own opinions about why that was. This digimon only helped confirm her thoughts. What he said about his other friends, Davis, Yolei, and Cody, she wasn't sure if it was true or not. She thought about all the times she had spent with her new friends, but as she did she became discouraged. Maybe they did really feel bad for her and that was the only reason they were her friends. Even Davis's crush seemed out of pity, no one ever flirted with Kari except for Davis. Maybe he did it only to make her feel better about herself.

'Get a grip on yourself, Kari. He's getting inside your head.'

"YOU'RE A LIAR!"

The digimon laughed again which angered her even more. "You getting angry about this only proves my point. You can think what you want, but there is no denying the obvious truth. Think on these words, child of Light."

All the energy instantly left her body and she collapsed falling onto the sand of the beach. When she opened her eyes next she was sitting up in her bead covered in a cold sweat panting.

* * *

The Digimon Emperor couldn't help but be happy in the position he was in. Not only did he have many digimon under the control of his new dark spirals, but now he had absolute control of a digidestined and his partner. The good thing about having a digiddestined's digimon under his control was because they were able to digivolve. He could use his dark digivice to make the Patamon digivolve into its more mature forms. The good thing about having a digidestined under his control was that now he could share the work load that had to be done. He would be able to get a lot more done.

Two things stood in his way from ruling the Digital World, though. First off there were the other digidestined children. He wasn't quite sure what he would do with them yet. Should he try to kill them off and never have to worry about them ever again? Or should he capture them like he had done to the blonde digidestined? They definitely would be useful, but would it be better just to get rid of them and never have to deal with them again? And there also was the fact that defeating the digidestineds might not be as easy as he thought it would be. There were many of them and some of them could still digivolve despite his control spires.

The other thing that stood in his way was Devimon. He didn't know why but he couldn't stop thinking about what the demon had said to him about darkness not being able to be controlled. He decided that if darkness couldn't be controlled then it should be destroyed. Something, though, attracted him to the darkness. It felt like a part of him was a part of darkness, and he had a feeling that something else was out there; something much worse than Devimon. He could feel this inner darkness inside of him wanting to go find this hidden source of darkness. He shook his head, though. 'I have to focus on controlling the Digital World. Once I do that then I can go find this hidden darkness,' he thought to himself.

"Master, what do you have planned for that digimon?"

They were standing outside the indestructible, see-through walls of one of his heavy-duty prison rooms. The Patamon was lying down in the middle of the room, awaiting its orders. He was going to see if he could make this digimon digivolve.

"Just watch."

He entered the prison room, but he stayed near the door. He raised his black digivice and yelled,

"Patamon, DIGIVOLVE!"

The Patamon looked up at him with its now dark-red eyes. It instantly started glowing, but it wasn't glowing the bright white that the rest of the digimon had when they digivolved. Patamon was surrounded by a black light, and he noticed that a black light was emanating from his digivice. He exited the room as the Patamon changed forms and grew in size. Wormon had told him that Patamon's next form was a digimon called Angemon, an angel-like digimon with white wings and held a golden rod. He expected Patamon to digivolve into that form, but as the light dimmed down he didn't find Angemon. The digimon that stood in the center of the room looked like a fallen angel. It had a humanoid form except for the two huge, red wings protruding out of its back. The digimon had very sharp claws and it wore a golden mask. He quickly left the room as the digimon looked right at him and dove for him claws outstretched. Right as he closed the door he heard a loud bang as the digimon tried to break free of its prison cell.  
He watched in horror as the digimon continued to beat on the walls trying to break free. This being was definitely a digimon of darkness; maybe Devimon was right when he said darkness can't be destroyed. He began questioning whether making the digidestined and the digimon his slave was right or not, but then his thoughts changed as he felt the dark side of him kick in. The dark side as he liked to call it always kicked in when he was about to show mercy to a digimon or tried to think nice of someone. The dark side provided him with new thoughts, thoughts that assured him that kidnapping the digimon was something that had to be done. The dark side also provided him an idea on how to control the digimon. He laughed as he executed the idea.

He raised his digivice and spoke into it, "Wormon, put another dark spiral in the prison room."

He heard Wormon start to protest and he screamed back, "DO IT NOW YOU WORTHLESS DIGIMON OR I'LL JUST DO IT MYSELF!"

He watched as a hole in the ceiling opened up releasing a dark spiral before it closed back up. The spiral flew right at the unsuspecting digimon who was still trying to free himself. The spiral attached itself to the digimon's left wrist, the wrist that didn't have the other dark spiral on it. Instantly the digimon stopped its efforts to break free and cried out in agony. He wasn't exactly sure what two dark spirals would do, but he didn't care. Desperate times called for desperate measures. The digimon dropped to its knees and then fell face first on the ground. The digimon started glowing a black color again and it changed back to Patamon.

He walked away headed back for the throne room while addressing the blonde digidestined.

"Follow me, I have work for you."

They walked back to his throne room. So he could make the digimon digivolve, but would two control spires be enough to control that… monster? It had made him stop trying to free himself, and he saw that as a positive. He knew it was only going to be a matter of time before he had complete control over the digimon. Once he did not Devimon or the digidestineds would be able to stand up to him. An evil smile formed on his face as he entered his throne room.

"What do you want me to do Master?"

He sat down on his throne and turned to face the blonde digidestined. He thought about what he exactly wanted him to do before he said,

"Take this."

He took out his D-Terminal and opened up a map of the Digital World. He was angered by how few black squares there were. He really had fallen behind in his control spire building. Oh well, he'd have a lot more time to build more now that he had the help of the digidestined. He picked four white squares that were close to each other and made them red.

"Go to these four red squares. Make sure that a control spire has formed in each area. Also, don't let any digimon escape from my dark spirals. I need complete control of these areas. Understood?"

"Yes, master."

He smiled to himself. Finally, a worthwhile servant that listened to him and did what he asked without asking any questions. He nodded and said,

"Good, now go. Take Unimon and Snimon with you."

With that the blonde digidestined left his throne room. He turned his throne back around and started typing on his keyboard making more control spires.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Another chapter is up! Great to see people still reviewing! This chapter doesn't necessarily have much going on it, but it is needed. Promise there will be more interesting chapters coming up soon but it may take me some time to write them and post them. Please bare with me. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter and please review if you want to!

* * *

Chapter 13:

Gabumon yawned loudly as his tiredness started to get to him. He wanted to go to sleep very bad, but he couldn't. He had to keep watch in case the Digimon Emperor showed up and started attacking this little village.

Today was a lot of work. They had searched hours upon hours for TK and Patamon, but they had no luck. Lucky for them they didn't run into the Digimon Emperor, but there were random times were some of his digimon slaves attacked us. He was upset that Matt was gone, but he was glad to finally take a break.

Not that he wasn't happy to go looking for TK and Patamon. He hadn't seen TK in a very long time and he saw Patamon a week ago or so but the little digimon was nowhere to be found. He was worried for the little guy. What, with the Digimon Emperor roaming about and now Devimon was back supposedly. Also, Patamon couldn't digivolve without TK. He often worried that Patamon was captured by the Emperor, but he tried to keep faith that maybe Patamon and TK both were safe.

He stayed awake, but he could feel his eyes starting to drop. He shook his head as to help wake him up, but even that failed him. He decided to stand up and walk around; he had to be quiet, though, so as not to awake any of the digimon.

He loved being in this village and he was glad that it hadn't been taken over by the Digimon Emperor. The village was home to many Tsunomon, his in-training form. They were always very nice to him and his friends, feeding them, allowing them to stay for as long as they wanted to. They were very nice and trustworthy digimon and Gabumon didn't want anything to happen to the village.

He frowned, then, when he spotted a tall, dark shadow standing straight up in the distance. It was dark out so it was hard to tell what the shadow was, but he had a bad feeling it was a control spire. He walked in the direction of the shadow and after a couple minutes of walking his suspicion was confirmed. There was a control spire in this area.

He ran back to where his friends were sleeping. The sudden appearance of the control spire disturbed him, though. The Digimon Emperor never was around during night, but if a control spire was formed just like that, then that meant that the Digimon Emperor was here. He knew that the Emperor would be here soon to make sure all the digimon in the area were put under his control.

"Guys! GUYS!"

He heard Gomamon groan as he woke up, but Agumon still slept on.

"What is it Gabumon?" Gomamon asked as Gabumon shook Agumon trying to wake him. The dinosaur-like digimon finally woke up and wasn't too happy about it.

"Hey, I like my sleep. I was having a good dream too…"

"There's a control spire in this area."  
"What?!" the two digimon said simultaneously.

"You heard me right, there's a control spire here. We have to warn the Tsunomon and get out of here before we all become slaves."

They processed the information and Agumon said, "Right!" before running to different huts that served as the homes for the Tsunomon. The night was filled with the digimon's shouts as they tried to wake the Tsunomon before it was too late. It took a while to wake some of the Tsunomon, but there wasn't too many of them in the village. Gabumon, Agumon, and Gomamon gathered with all the Tsunomon in the center of the village.

"Is that everyone?"

"Where do you think you all are going?"

Many of the Tsunomon gasped as the shadow of a Unimon flew up to them and landed in the distance. Gabumon couldn't see who was on the Unimon, but he knew by the voice that it wasn't the Digimon Emperor. Actually, the voice sounded vaguely familiar in a way. A Snimon followed Unimon in the air as Unimon walked up to the group of digimon.

He had to plan their escape, but he couldn't think. He was tired and all he found himself doing was focusing on the Unimon. Who exactly was on Unimon?

The Unimon finally was close enough for where Gabumoon could see it clearly in the moonlight. What he saw, though, was not what he expected. TK was on the Unimon.

"TK! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?!"

Gomamon moved closer to TK as he hopped off of the Unimon but then stopped. TK had something on his wrist, but it wasn't a dark ring. The thing looked like a spiral. Gabumon looked at TK.

"TK?"

The boy's face didn't move a muscle. TK stared at them without giving a hint that he knew the digimon that were before him. It was then that Gabumon realized that TK's eyes were red, not the usual blue that they were. TK was under the control of the Digimon Emperor.

Gabumon didn't know what to do. They had finally found TK after all the time they had spent searching for him, but he wasn't sure now that finding him was a good thing. He couldn't make up his mind on what to do. Should they run away and try to escape. The forest was nearby and it would be easy to hide once they reached it. Should they try to battle the Unimon and Snimon? There were only three rookie digimon there, though, and none of them could digivolve. How were they going to get this dark-spiral thingy off TK? He didn't want to attack TK in fear of hurting him, but how else were they going to get the dark ring off of him?

"Gabumon, we have to get out of here."

Gabumon knew that Agumon was right. It would be better off to run away and think of a better strategy for saving TK when Matt and the others were there with them, but now the problem was how were they going to escape. Unimon and Snimon were both champion digimon, and Gabumon wasn't sure if they would be able to do much more than hold the two digimon off for a short amount of time.

"Solar Ray!"

He was caught off guard by the sudden noise. A green laser-beam was shot right at Unimon. Gabumon looked in the direction the attack had come from, but he saw nothing but trees. The night and the trees had concealed whoever had sent the attack, but Gabumon knew who it was. It was Centarumon, a digimon that helped them build the raft that they had used many years ago to get to Server.

Gabumon readied to attack as the Unimon started flying, but the digimon just flew away. He realized that the attack must have destroyed the dark ring on Unimon and he was now free.

"Solar Ray!"

Another attack, this one directed towards Snimon, flew through the air. The flying insectoid digimon dodged the attack, however, and sent some of his own attacks towards the forest.

"Gabumon! Let's use this time to escape!"

"Right."

The three of them and the Tsunomon ran away as fast as they could. Gabumon couldn't tell exactly where they were going due to the darkness, but it didn't matter at the moment. They needed to get into the trees. He heard a battle going on behind him and he wished that Centarumon would be ok. He was very grateful that the digimon had been there to save them.

* * *

He had finally recovered from his earlier battle. He had been so close to fulfilling his revenge, but then that fiend, the Digimon Emperor, had to go mess up his plan. Then he had to be humiliated by those digimon he called 'slaves,' those pathetic digimon. He was over it, though. Now he was ready to go and was watching both his nemesis' every move, very carefully planning his next plan of attack.

Yes, the Digimon Emperor was next on his list of whom he was going to destroy. No one gets in the way of his revenge without paying the price, and that price is death.

Devimon watched as the child of hope flew into the so-called Digimon Emperor's fortress on top of a Snimon. Devimon wasn't a dumb digimon; he could easily put two and two together. The child of hope must have gotten himself caught by the Emperor. He didn't know if this was necessarily a good thing or not. The boy was sure to be watched constantly to make sure he didn't escape, but then again it would be easier to kill both of his nemesis's at the same time.

What would be his best plan of attack, though? Should he infiltrate the Emperor's fortress and risk being overwhelmed by an uncertain amount of digimon? Surely the fortress was going to be heavily guarded and holding many digimon guards that would attack him as soon as he entered the fortress. Also, the Emperor had the child of hope and his digimon as his slaves. No, only a fool would try to invade the Emperor's base.

He decided then that he would wait for the next time the child of hope left the fortress. He would destroy the digimon that was with him and then destroy him.

He didn't like that idea too, however. He wanted his revenge to be sweet. What benefit would he get if he killed the child of hope while he was controlled by the Emperor? He had to destroy whatever it was that was controlling the digidestined first. Then he would have to destroy the digidestined's digimon. That would cause so much pain for the boy. Then he would destroy the boy.

He smiled at his new plan of action. It was only a matter of time before his revenge was fulfilled.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

THANKS TO ALL YOU REVIEWERS! ESPECIALLY YOU REGULAR REVIEWERS! It really means so much to me and to think that I am already at 58 reviews is awesome. It's great to hear from so many people and it encourages me to keep coming up with better things to continue the story! THANKS AGAIN REVIEWERS!

I apologize for another late update especially to all the reviewers (esp. the regular reviewers). I will not make any excuses, but I think (not promise) I will be able to post chapters more often. I am now finished with school for the year and will have more time on my hands even though I still have basketball. Oh, and if I forget to say it or if the next time I have it's too late, "HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!"

* * *

Chapter 14:

Today was a dreary and rainy day in both the Digital World and the real world. The day only seemed to reflect her mood. Everyone seemed happy except for her. Ever since her nightmare earlier that day she hadn't talked to anybody except Gatomon. She even ignored Tai as much as she could. Honestly she didn't want to feel this way, but it felt like there was nothing she or anyone else could do to brighten her day. She realized the irony of the situation; she had possessed the crest of light yet it seemed as if all of her light had gone away.

As the day went on she started to realize that what Dragomon had told her in her nightmare was true. Everyone seemed to ignore her. She wasn't talking to them, so why would they even bother talking to her? No one cared about her. Even Davis hadn't done any flirting today. The only one that wanted to be around her and was worried about her was Gatomon, and that was only because they were 'partners.'

The thing that bothered her the most, though, was the fact that none of the older digidestineds, the ones who had been her friends since she was eight, acted as if she wasn't there at all. They didn't include her once again when they planned that they would go searching for TK again. Even Tai ignored her. He was too busy trying to woo Sora to pay any attention to her.

Was it true, then, that nobody cared about her? Was she only a part of this group because she was a digidestined? A part of her deep down inside told her that they all were her friends and that she was loved, but that 'light' inside was drowned out by all the darkness she felt.

They were walking through the forest again heading towards the lake where they had left the Digital World on their first adventure. They had told all of their partners to meet them there today so they could plan what they were going to do. All of the digidestineds had decided to come again too, so Kari was expecting another day like yesterday, something she wasn't too excited for.

"Kari watch…."

She heard Gatomon suddenly call out but she was already falling. She tripped over a tree's root, which had poked out from the ground and she started falling face forward. She landed hard not on ground but on water. She instantly heard some laughter from the others while some gasped out in surprise.

"Kari are you ok?"

Tai walked over and helped her sister up. When she was finally standing up he looked at her and laughed,

"Looks like someone will need a bath tonight."

That was the last straw. She didn't know what triggered it, but instantly she became furious. Without another word she stormed off through the forest. She didn't even take the time to look behind her to see if anyone was following her. Luckily for her the forest was very dense with its trees and bushes. As long as she kept taking a few random turns then no one would be able to catch her.

As she was running she couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with her. She never used to be like this. She used to love being around her friends and her brother. Now, though, all she wanted to do was get away. She only saw the negativity and the darkness in her life. It was as if all the light was gone. And she knew the reason for it too, but there was nothing she could do about a nightmare, was there?

When she thought for sure that she had lost anybody that might have chased her she stopped running and caught her breath. She saw a clearing in the trees up ahead and decided to walk towards it. As she did so she noticed that the trees around her were starting to change color. Everything already was darker than usual because of the storm and the rain, but everything was getting even darker. When she finally reached the clearing in the trees there was no longer any color in the Digital World. She pushed a branch out of her way and stepped out of the forest. She now found herself standing on a beach with gray sand looking out onto a dark ocean.

* * *

Matt continued walking towards the lake with Joe, Izzy, Yolei, and Cody. Everyone else: Tai, Sora, Mimi, and Davis, had gone after Kari. He couldn't say that he was surprised by Kari's actions. He could tell that something was really bothering her. First off she was not talking at all, and secondly she walked a good five feet behind the group with her head down facing the ground. He was just about to drop back from the group and ask what was wrong when she ran away.

Tai of course was outraged by his little sister's stunt and went chasing after her. Sora obviously followed suit along with Mimi and Davis which also didn't surprise me. He would have went chasing after Kari because he really was worried about her, but he had to get Gabumon and start looking for TK. Besides, Tai wouldn't let anything bad happen to Kari; he cared too much for her and wouldn't be able to live with himself if anything did happen to her. He was sure she would be fine.

Some part of him, though, told him that something was going to happen to Kari. He pushed that feeling out of the way though as they finally reached the lake. He saw Gabumon and the rest of the older digidestined's digimon huddled around in a circle. He called out to his partner as Izzy and Joe did the same thing.

"Hey GABUMON!"

"TENTOMON!"

"GOMAMON!"

The digimon turned towards the voices and started running at them when they realized it was them. Matt ran up to Gabumon and was going to start asking how his night in the Tsunomon village was when Gabumon interrupted him.

"Matt, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."

"Bad news? That can't be good."

"Well, you see Matt. Seeing that he told you it was going to be bad news that obviously cancels out any possibility of the news he has to share with you as being good news."

It took all of his willpower not to slap Izzy right across the face.

"What is it Gabumon?" he asked not knowing what to expect.

"Ok, so last night Agumon, Gomamon, and myself stayed the night at the Tsunomon village like we told you we would yesterday. I took the first shift of watch. I was just about to fall asleep when something in the distance caught my eye. I moved closer and it was a control spire. I ran back to the village and woke up everybody. We were just about to leave the village in fear that the Digimon Emperor would soon arrive when we were stopped by a Unimon and a Snimon."

"You guys seemed to have made it out ok, though. Are the Tsunomon ok?"

"They're fine, but let me finish. I noticed there was someone on the Unimon and I figured it was the Digimon Emperor, but it wasn't. It was…."

"It was who, Gabumon?"

"TK."

Matt must not have heard his partner right. Did he say TK?

"Uh… tell me that one more time."

"TK was on the Unimon, and he had a dark ring on him but it looked more like a spiral. He didn't even recognize us. I think he's working for the Digimon Emperor."

"Gomamon, is this true?" Joe asked his partner.

"Unfortunately yes."

No one broke the silence. They all took in the information and thought on what it exactly meant. Matt couldn't believe it. TK was under the control of the Digimon Emperor? That scum bag had slapped a dark ring on his brother? Matt didn't want to believe it, but he trusted his partner.

They turned as they heard voices coming from the forest. Mimi, Tai, Sora, and Davis walked out of the forest all wearing troubled expressions. Kari wasn't with them and neither was Gatomon.

Tai, Sora, and Mimi's partners all ran up to them and exchanged greetings. Matt and the rest of them followed the digimon and they all joined up. Matt couldn't talk, but he listened as they talked.

"Any luck finding Kari?" Yolei asked.

"No, we couldn't find her anywhere. Then Gatomon was too fast and we lost track of her too," Sora responded.

"That's so weird. I don't know what's gotten into her lately. Do you know anything Tai?"

"No, I mean I know from Gatomon she's been having these nightmares and she has furthered herself from the rest of the group because of them. I should have known that there was something wrong with her. I should have been more concerned for her."

"Tai, there is no way you could've known that she was going to run away like this."

"Maybe you're right, but I'm still going to go looking for her, and I am going to find her."

"We also need to find TK," Sora added.

"No," I replied, talking for the first time, "We already found him."

Gabumon, Gomamon, and Agumon explained to the group how they had saw TK the previous night and that he was now under the control of the Digimon Emperor. Everyone was shocked by the news, and they all stayed silent. They all knew what they were waiting for. Whenever a difficult situation like this came up they always looked for Tai to tell them what to do. Some things never change.

Tai knew that everybody was waiting for him to talk, but he couldn't think of what to do. TK being controlled by the Emperor was terrible news, but at least they now knew where TK was. Kari, though, was missing. He didn't want to say this, though. Matt might get mad at him for only worrying about his sister and not caring about TK. That wasn't true at all. He did care about TK, it's just he cared about Kari more. Luckily, Izzy spoke up and saved him.

"I think it would be best if we split up. Half of us could go looking for Kari while the other half looked for TK."

"That's a great idea Izzy!"

"Yeah."

Tai looked at Matt who was looking at Izzy and nodded.

"Ok," Izzy continued, "Now to split up."

Tai instantly spoke up, "I'm going to find my sister."

"I'm going to find TK," responded just as fast.

They both looked at each other and nodded. Sure they were best friends, but now they had to separate to go find their siblings and they both understood that.

"I'm going to find Kari!" This time Davis spoke up.

Everybody looked at Davis annoyed. They all knew how big of a crush he had on her, and that was the main reason he wanted to go find Kari. It also could have been that none of the new digidestineds knew who TK was.

"I'm going after Kari too!" Yolei spoke up, "I mean, we're sort of like best friends."

It took a couple of minutes with many quarrellings from Yolei and Davis, they couldn't go ten seconds without getting into a fight, but they finally had two as equal as they could be groups. Tai, Davis, Yolei, Izzy, and Sora were going after Kari; Matt, Cody, Mimi, and Joe were going to look for TK.

"So, no matter what we will meet back here at sunset. Right?"

"Right!"

"Ok, well let's get going then!"

"Yeah, let's go find Kari!"

"Good luck you guys!" Sora called out, looking at Matt.

"You too!" He smiled back at her before turning to his group. He wished Tai was a part of the group, but that wasn't going to happen. Besides, he at least had Gabumon, Joe and Mimi he could count on, along with Gomamon and Palmon. He didn't know Cody very well, but Armadilomon was a good fighter and he was the only one who could digivolve in a control-spire area. As he looked at the group he realized that they were all looking at him as if waiting for him to say something. He didn't want to, but he realized that he was going to have to be the leader. He sighed as he looked around the lake. Memories of his first adventure in the Digital World popped back into his head, but he had to push them out. Now, he had to focus. TK, they had to find TK.

"Right, well, shall we?"

He picked the direction opposite from the other group and started walking with the others following him.

* * *

He watched his screen of the Digital World. He had waited for them to show up in the Digital World. Earlier that day he had Patamon digivolve into what Wormon had told him was NeoDevimon. With two dark spirals on NeoDevimon, it was enough to have complete control over the digimon. The digimon had tried to fight the control at first, but two dark spirals was too much to overcome. What he did notice, though, was that the NeoDevimon form took a lot of energy to withstand. Patamon hadn't been able to withstand the new form for more than fifteen, maybe thirty minutes. That was in the morning, though, and he had given Patamon the whole day to rest up as he waited for the digidestineds to appear.

He counted the dots on the screen. At first there were ten dots on the screen and he left to go tell the blonde digidestined to start preparing for the future battle. When he returned to the screen, though, there were only nine dots and they were separated into two different groups. He searched with his eyes over the entire screen, but the tenth dot was nowhere to be found. It had just… disappeared. He indeed found that strange, but that was the least of his problems. Now was his chance to finally get rid of the digidestineds once and for all.

"SNIMON! UNIMON! MONOCHROMON! Get ready!"

He got to his feet and walked out of his throne room. Wormon was saying something to him, probably trying to change his mind about killing the digidestineds, but he ignored the pathetic digimon. Why couldn't he have a partner like NeoDevimon? One who was strong, one who listened to his every command, one that couldn't be defeated? He shook his head; he would have to worry about that later.

While he walked to exit his fortress, TK, the blonde digidestined, walked up to him and followed him out followed by the Patamon. He explained the details of the mission to him. He took out his D-Terminal and pointed out the two groups of digidestineds. He pointed to the further of the two groups and told TK that he was going to take out that group. Meanwhile, he was going to take out the closer of the two groups. TK nodded and the Emperor yelled,

"Patamon, DIGIVOLVE!"

The digimon started glowing and a black light emanated from the digimon and from his own digivice. He smiled as Patamon changed forms and turned into NeoDevimon. The being increased the darkness in the air and his smile widened even more.

"Now, go destroy the digidestineds!"

TK nodded and climbed onto NeoDevimon's claw as the digimon picked the digidestined up. He watched them fly off a little ways before he turned around and called out for the threee digimon. The ground shook from Monochromon's weight as he neared him. Snimon and Unimon flew up to him and landed. He quickly mounted Unimon and they headed off for the other digidestineds.

'Yes,' he thought to himself, 'Today is the day I finally win!'

* * *

Such a hard choice. Which one was he going to kill first? He could easily defeat the Digimon Emperor and his digimon slaves, but he was also curious to find out how strong this new form was.

He had watched in awe as the Digimon Emperor used his dark digivice to make Patamon digivolve into a form he shouldn't have been able to digivolve into. Patamon was a digimon of light, one who fought darkness. The digimon he had become, though, was one of darkness. A being of light should not be able to become one of darkness. How strong was this dark digivice exactly?

Curiosity got the better of him so he waited for the Emperor to leave before following the child of hope and his new digimon partner. He barely saw the new digimon; he was flying extremely fast. Devimon had to work extra hard to catch up with them. He finally caught up with them, though, and followed from a safe distance.

He was excited for what was about to happen. The child of hope was going after a group of digidestineds and was going to destroy them. He was going to able to kill two birds with one stone. The child of hope and his partner would either get destroyed by the digidestineds or the digidestineds would get destroyed by them. Either way, the ones that survived would be tired, and Devimon would then take his opportunity to destroy whoever was left.

There was no way his plan could fail. He just wished that the digidestineds weren't so far away. They had been flying for nearly an hour or more by now, and they were not slowing down either. The sun kept going down and everything was starting to become a light orange color because of the falling sun. It would only be a little over an hour before it was completely dark out, and he couldn't let that happen. Neither the digidestineds nor the Digimon Emperor stayed in the Digital World when it was dark; they all had to return to the real world. Which made him wonder why he saw the child of hope wandering around at night the previous night. Why didn't he have to go back to the real world?

He had to stop his thinking, though, when NeoDevimon, or at least that was what the Emperor had said the digimon's name was, dove towards the ground. He heard people talking, and then there were screams as he heard an attack explode when it hit the ground. Hopefully it had hit a digidestined or two and destroyed them. He moved himself closer to the battle so he could see it clearly, but far away enough that he wouldn't be spotted. NeoDevimon was really strong and defeated whoever opposed him with no problems. He laughed; soon he would have his revenge.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Ok, so I don't know who I should match Sora with. This is why I am going to ask for what you guys think. Should Sora be with Tai or Matt? Please let me know, but honestly it won't affect the story either way. Anyways, I don't really like writing "battle" scenes, and this chapter is an all "battle" scene. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and if there's any way I could improve my writing for these types of chapters. The next one is going to be similar to this one, but a little different as well. Thank you for the reviews of the previous chapter, and as always I hope you enjoy this one! 4 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! ^^

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Chapter 15:

Sora yawned as the sun started to set. Her feet were sore. She was tired. She had scratches all over her arms and legs, anything that wasn't protected by clothes, because of all the vines and bushes that were in the forest. All of this searching and they haven't even found Kari either.

She had no idea where Kari could have run off to either. They had to have searched at least a mile radius around the forest without a hint of luck. She was scared for Kari. A digimon could've attacked her, the Digimon Emperor could have captured her. Then again, she could tell Kari was upset and maybe Kari was trying to hide from them. Heck, she might even have gone back to the real world by now.

She sighed as she went through déjà vu. Surely she already passed this crooked tree before. 'Great,' she thought to herself, 'Now they were going in circles.' The only good thing about all of this was that she got to spend time with Biyomon. She loved having her best friend as company and wouldn't trade it away for anything in the world.

"Tai, maybe we need to re-think our plan?" Izzy spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm exhausted!" Yolei agreed.

"NO!" Davis and Tai both shouted back to the others. The two "goggle-heads" were leading the group and had determined looks on their faces.

"I am not leaving without Kari!" Tai responded.

"Me either!" Davis followed suit.

The rest of the group: Izzy, Sora, Yolei, and their partner digimon sighed. They had been searching for Kari for hours now with no luck. No one wanted to say it, but they weren't going to find Kari. She couldn't have gone too far, and here they were searching through the entire forest.

"But Tai, we told the others that we would meet them back at the lake at sunset. Look, it's almost night time out. We need to get back before they start to worry about us," Sora said hoping it would convince him to stop their search.

"Yeah, and what if the others are in trouble? If we don't go back to the lake we won't know."

"Besides, if we can't find Kari then maybe she went back to the real world already. I don't think we are going to find her here."

Tai and Davis both stayed silent as they thought about what was said. Davis was going to do whatever Tai did, Sora knew that much. It was up to Tai.

"I… I'm not leaving without Kari. Something could've happened to her."

"I am sticking with Tai," Davis responded immediately.

No one wanted to continue this search. Everyone, even the digimon, was getting tired. Tai saw this and continued,

"How about this. You three can go back to the lake while Davis and I find Kari."

"Or we all can go back to the lake."

"Or we can all suck it up and keep searching for Kari."

"Or I can just destroy you all right now."

They all turned in shock at this new voice. Of course they recognized the voice; it was the Digimon Emperor.

The ground shook and trees were ripped from out of the ground. Wings were heard fluttering and two digimon landed with a thud. Another digimon appeared as it knocked down some trees. Sora looked at the three digimon that were surrounding the five of them and their digimon. The Emperor was on top of a Unimon and then there was a Snimon and a Monochromon.

She wasn't scared, though. They had defeated him before, and they would just have to do it again.

"Biyomon, Digivolve!"

"You too Agumon!"

"Hawkmon?"

"Veemon, go!"

Lights shone and Sora had to close her eyes because of the brightness. When the lights dimmed and she could see again there were only three new digimon. Biyomon and Agumon were still in their rookie forms. Apparently they were in a control spire area.

"You didn't think I would face you guys in an area where you all could digivolve did you?"

"We could hope so," Sora responded coldly.

"Looks like the fight is up to us three again. Go Flamedramon!"

Sora felt so useless as she stood next to Biyomon, Tai and Agumon. Not being able to digivolve rendered them useless. There was nothing they could do besides offer encouragement for the new digidestineds and their partners. She never had felt this way before, usually she was the one who had to stay strong and fight the battles. She could tell that Tai felt the same way, and she could tell that their digimon were going crazy not being able to fight.

She turned her attention to the battles. Yolei and Halsemon battled Snimon and Davis and Flamedramon went up against Unimon and Monochromon. She was glad that they all could digivolve with the new digi-eggs, but at the same time she realized that these forms were not as strong as a champion level digimon. If only Biyomon could digivolve into Birdramon then these digimon would be toast. That wasn't going to happen though.

The battles weren't going so well. Flamedramon and Halsemon were all moving slower than usual. It must have been from all the searching they had done before hand. Also, they spent a lot of time in the real world, and it took up more energy for a digimon to stay in the real world. They just weren't at their best and they were showing it. Attacks that they'd dodge easily they were getting hit by. Their attacks were sluggish and it made them easier to dodge for the other digimon. It didn't help that Flamedramon had to face two digimon at once either.

Sora couldn't stand it. It would be any second before the digimon were not able to keep up this fight. They couldn't let that happen. She had to come up with an idea. Instantly she looked at Tai. As she did, he looked right at her with the same worried expression she was wearing. Then he spoke up,

"The dark rings."

Sora understood immediately and ran into the middle of one of the battles with Biyomon. Tai ran into another one with Agumon.

"Biyomon, see if you can land an attack on the dark ring. We need to help them out."

"Right."

Biyomon flew off ahead of her and flew behind Snimon. Snimon was focusing on attacking Halsemon. Sora looked over to Yolei who looked very worried. She must be able to tell that the battle wasn't going too well. Sora locked eyes with her and Yolei was shocked to see her so close to the battle, but then Yolei saw Biyomon and she nodded with a smile. Sora looked back at Snimon as she heard her partner's voice ring out,

"Spiral Twister!"

Biyomon sent a spiral of green flames at Snimon's dark ring. The attack hit dead on and there was an explosion. Sora smiled, but when the smoke from the attack cleared the dark ring was still there and Snimon had turned its attention from Halsemon to Biyomon.

"Twin Scicles!" Two pink blades of energy shot from Snimon's scythes and flew right at Biyomon. Biyomon dodged the first one as it flew by and hit a nearby tree. The other one, though, she wasn't so lucky. Biyomon was shot backwards and slammed into a tree. Biyomon fell to the ground and Sora saw that she wasn't moving.

"BIYOMON!" Sora ran for her partner. She was too busy running to notice Halsemon diving to attack Snimon. Snimon was too quick though and dodged the attack. Sora heard Snimon yell out another attack, but she kept running to her partner. She kneeled next to her digimon and held Biyomon in her arms. She was surprised when Halsemon hit the ground and skidded to a stop right next to her. Halsemon started glowing and changed forms back to Hawkmon. She heard Yolei's voice.

"HAWKMON!"

Sora now took the time to look back at the fight. Yolei was running for her partner while Snimon joined the fight between Unimon and Flamedramon. Flamedramon wasn't expecting another digimon to join the fight and barely dodged Snimon's scythe. He was now focused on Snimon, though, and he was hit dead on by a blast of energy sent from Unimon. Flamedramon dedigivolved back to Veemon and Davis ran to his partner. She saw Agumon trying to do the same thing Biyomon had tried to do, but Monochromon had spotted Agumon right before he attacked. Monochromon swung his tail at Agumon who couldn't dodge the attack. She heard the Digimon Emperor laugh.

"Well, I hate to admit it but that was much easier than what I expected."

"Why don't you let us go and face us again tomorrow and see how easy it is then?" Tai retorted back. Even in the face of their nearing death he still had the courage to speak up. That was just like Tai.

"Oh no, I can't let that happen. Sorry to disappoint. Now, the question is which of you should I destroy first?"

The Emperor looked at each of them, and then his eyes finally landed on hers. A maniacal smile formed on his lips and he started laughing.

"You, " he said pointing right at her, "You will be the first to go."

She tensed as the Unimon the Emperor was riding neared her. This was it; this was how she was going to die. A list of all the things she wanted to do before she died that she'd never get to do now popped up in her head. She'd never be able to tell Matt how she truly felt. She'd never see TK, the hope-filled little boy that always brought a smile to her face, ever again. She'd never be able to see any of her friends ever again.

"No," she said simply. She wasn't actually in control, yet the word had come out. She said it again louder, "NO!"

"No? No what?"

"I am _not_ going to let you kill me or the ones that I love. I love my friends too much to say goodbye, and I'm sure as heck not going to let you be the one that ends our lives. We are stronger than you!"

"Oh, you're stronger than me? Is that really the case here?"

"We are because we have something that you lack. We have love!"

A red light emanted from her digivice and she quickly pulled it out in shock. She looked at her digivice and then smiled. She knew what was coming next. Sora looked at Biyomon who started glowing.

"Biyomon, Digivolve!"

She happily watched her partner as she changed forms to Birdramon. When the light stopped, a huge bird-digimon that appeared as if she was on fire stood before her. She was too concerned with her partner, though, to notice the Digimon Emperor attacking her.

"SORA!"

She turned instantly and saw the beam of fire heading right for her. She tried to move her feet, but they wouldn't budge. She tried to scream, but her voice failed her. All she could do was watch as the fire quickly approached her. Suddenly, she fell backwards and hit the ground hard. She opened her eyes and saw Tai lying on top of her. She heard the fire zoom past them and hit the trees, but she didn't turn to look. Her eyes were focused on Tai who was in a very awkward position, but she ignored it. She locked eyes with Tai and a weird, unexplainable feeling went through her. Tai looked as if the same thing happened to him, but he then shook his head and reached his hand for hers. She gratefully took it as he pulled her up to her feet.

"Thanks Tai," she uttered softly.

He simply nodded before stepping in front of her and the Digimon Emperor.

His digivice started to do the same thing as hers and she saw the happiness in his eyes. She watched as Agumon changed forms into Greymon.

"How are you able to digivolve? I have the power of my dark digivice. You shouldn't be able to digivolve!"

"Honestly, I don't know how we were able to digivolve either, but hey it sucks to suck. Look like you are the big loser today!" Sora said happily.

"That is where you're wrong. I will find a way to stop your digivolution, but until then it is time for me to go. You will be destroyed eventually, just consider this a raincheck. Goodbye, digidestineds."

With that Monochromon, Snimon, and Unimon fled the scene.

"COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" Tai yelled as he ran after them. "Sora, come on. Let's get him."

Sora ran over to Birdramon and was about to climb on and go after the Digimon Emperor when Birdramon started glowing and changed colors. Greymon did the same thing. She sighed. This was a good chance to go after the Emperor, but now it was ruined.

"No! Agumon, digivolve again!"

"I can't Tai. I'm too tired."

"Biyomon?" I asked.

"Me too. I can't digivolve anymore."

Tai let out a big sigh before he started laughing. He walked to where the rest of the group was gathering.

"That was a little too close for comfort," he said beaming as Agumon walked next to him.

"I'll say," Sora agreed while smiling at Tai. They locked eyes and that same feeling went through the both of them. They must have stared at each other for a while because Yolei started talking.

"Ummm….. earth to Sora! Earth to Tai!"

They both shook their heads muttering "Huh?" "What?"

Yolei started laughing leaving Davis confused.

"Come on you lovebirds. We need to head back to the lake before the others start to worry."

Tai, Davis, and Sora all still looked confused at the word 'lovebirds' , but they finally regained their composure. Tai took lead with Davis trying to catch up. Yolei and Cody walked together leaving Sora and Biyomon in the back. There were so many questions that were brought up because of what had happened this evening, but the one that bugged her the most was, "Do I really have feelings for Tai?"


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry for the briefness of this chapter but I am slowly running out of battery power on my laptop and I wanted to post another chapter up as soon as possible. I am getting lots of reviews and it makes me happy! Thank you to everybody who has reviewed. I hope you guys continue to review, and, as always, I hope you enjoy the story. Please let me know what you think in a review.

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Chapter 16:

"So how is Japan everybody? I mean, Japan without me can't be better than what it used to be, but it still can't be that bad, right? How are you Izzy, Joe? Just terrible and lost since I'm not here, huh? Oh and you, Matt… how are you? The whole TK thing can't be going too well, but…"

Matt sighed. Mimi was a very caring person, but she never knew when it was best to shut up. Luckily, he had Izzy and Joe there to keep Mimi away from him. At least the two of them knew him well enough to stop Mimi from bothering him.

He looked around at the group and sighed. The only one that could digivolve if they were to be attacked by the Emperor would be Cody, and Matt didn't trust the little kid yet. Sure he had proven himself being one of the only ones to fight, but he still was, what, nine years old. He had to remind himself that Cody was older than TK was on their first trip to the Digital World. The thought of TK caused a wave of sadness to overwhelm him.

TK… What was it now? Just about a week since he got the phone call from the police officer. And he hadn't seen him in four months before the phone call. He hadn't seen TK for forever, and deep down he knew it wasn't his fault but he still couldn't help blaming himself for not seeing him.

"Matt, MATT!"

He looked up and saw that everyone was staring at him. His face flushed a little red at the attention.

"What? What happened?"

"Mimi was just talking about how it is getting close to sunrise and that we should head back."

For once Mimi was right about something. Oops, did he just think that? He was supposed to be a good friend and all, you know, crest of friendship. He remembered that they had agreed to meet back at the lake. But they hadn't found TK yet. In fact, they hadn't found anything yet. Not any digimon or the Digimon Emperor.

"Matt… what do you think?"

"What do you mean what do I think?"

"Should we head back to the lake or not?"

Here it was. He had to tell them now. He had told Gabumon while they were walking, but he didn't plan on telling the others just yet. Oh well, here it goes.

"Guys… I… I'm not going back to the real world."

"WHAT!" Mimi shrieked, "What are you talking about Matt!"

"Yeah, Matt. What exactly do you mean?"

Great, now there were two people against him. Mimi already was a handful, but Joe as well.

"Don't think we're gonna let you stay here, Matt."

Izzy too!

"Guys, I can't leave the Digital World knowing that TK is here and now controlled by the Emperor."

"And I can't leave knowing that you are in the Digital World looking for your brother who you know is controlled by the Digimon Emperor so even if you did find him you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"Your reasons are plausible but highly illogical Matt."

"I don't know big words like plausible but I say don't go Matt!"

Mimi, Joe, and Izzy continued trying to convince him otherwise. He, however, decided that he was going to stay no matter what. He had to find TK, and he knew he wouldn't be able to be at peace until he did.

"Hey guys! GUYS!"

They all turned and looked at Cody who was pointing off in the distance. Matt followed with his eyes to look at where Cody was pointing to, and he gasped.

"I think I found TK."

And it really was TK. But what was the digimon TK was on? He hadn't seen a digimon like that ever, and he has seen a lot of digimon. This digimon was a huge, humanonid digimon with very long arms. He had claws that looked so sharp that they could cut through a rock. The digimon also had two red wings protruding from its back, and it was wearing a gold-colored mask. Matt could tell that this was an evil digimon, and not just that, this digimon was very strong.

After looking at the digimon he focused on his brother. There was no mistaking that this was his brother. He was so happy that he had finally found his brother and was able to see him, but then his eyes were on TK's dark ring, or spiral, or whatever it was. If they could just destroy that…

Matt was tackled and landed hard on his back. He heard an explosion and realized that the digimon had just sent an attack right where he was standing a few seconds ago. He could've just died.

Joe helped him to his feet and he uttered thanks to which Joe responded no problem. Izzy spoke up next,

"Guys, we're going to have to fight. Look, TK and NeoDevimon have dark spirals on them."

NeoDevimon? That must've been the name of the digimon TK was on. But he didn't worry about that. Gabumon looked up at him expectantly, waiting for Matt to give word to digivolve. Could he really do it? Could he really fight his own brother? No, right now TK wasn't his brother. He was a slave of the Digimon Emperor. If he wanted to get his brother back then he had to fight him.

"Gabumon, digivolve."

Light surrounded them as the digimon digivolved. Once it dimmed down, three champions and Digmon were facing NeoDevimon. Four against one. Matt smiled at the odds. He could get his brother back today.

* * *

"Kari, please talk to me!"

Gatomon had been trying to get through to her partner, but she had no luck. They had been sitting on the gray sand of this colorless, lifeless world staring out at the ocean. Kari hadn't spoken a word, leaving Gatomon practically by herself.

She could tell that they needed to get out of this world. It definitely was not the Digital World, or it was a part she never had been to or ever heard about. And she never wanted to come back here. This world seemed to relinquish all happiness. All Gatomon had been able to feel was depression, anger, and frustrtation. It was hard to even think of something happy. And to think Kari was going through the same thing and she already was in a bad state. This world definitely isn't good for her.

"It's not worth it…. Not worth living for….."

"KARI! What are you talking about."

"I give up….."

"You can't give up Kari. You can't give up on yourself or the people that love you. Don't give up on me Kari. Fight back. We can get out of here."

Kari didn't even look up at her. She kept muttering to herself, and she only caught bits and pieces of it. What she did hear frightened her. She talked about staying in this world. And about how _they _understood. Gatomon tried her best to talk some sense into Kari, but it was as if she was in a trance. Gatomon sighed. It didn't look like she was getting her partner back anytime soon.

Gatomon continued staring out at the ocean and felt the power of the darkness around them. She could feel the darkness coming closer and closer, and somehow she knew that it was going after Kari. They needed to get out of here fast.

And then she started seeing these… shadows walking out of the ocean. With them were Scubamon. They all were heading right for them. And then something else emerged from the dark ocean. It was a digimon that Gatomon had only heard about in scary stories. She was instantly able to recognize the digimon, though; it was Dragomon.

"Umm….. Kari? We have to get out of here….. like NOW!"

Gatomon watched as Kari rubbed her eyes and shook her head. She looked back out at the ocean and fear was evident on her face. Gatomon wasn't glad that Kari was afraid, but she realized that she finally had her partner back.

"Gatomon! We gotta get out of here!"

"That's what I've been saying, but no one listens to me."

Kari ignored her and continued, "Come on!"

Kari picked up her partner and started running along the beach. They got about five strides in before Kari tripped and fell on her face. Gatomon leaped from her arms, but she was thrown to the ground as well. Gatomon tried to push herself up but she couldn't. She looked and saw what looked like vines entangling themselves around her. She clawed at them, but they wouldn't break. They continued until she couldn't move anymore. Whatever was going to happen now definitely wasn't going to be good. All she could hear was her partner calling out for help.

"Gatomon! Tai! TK! SOMEONE HELP!"

* * *

Once the fighting started, Matt realized just how wrong he was in thinking the odds were in their favor. Sure, Garurumon, Digmon, Ikkakumon, Togemon, and Kabuterimon were great fighters, but they were only at the champion level. NeoDevimon was at least an ultimate digimon, and Matt didn't know if MetalGarurumon could even defeat him.

NeoDevimon was ridiculously fast in attack and on defense. He dodged every attack that was sent at him, and every time he attacked he always hit. Digmon, Togemon, and Ikkakumon already had dedigivolved into their in-training forms due to NeoDevimon's attacks. They had to stop this battle now before they were destroyed.

"TK! STOP THIS!"

Matt tried to get to his partner, but he didn't even seem to hear it. That was it, he couldn't just stand here as his partner fought what seemed like a hopeless battle. He had to do something.

He ran across the battlefield and did a pretty good job of avoiding the fighting digimon. TK didn't even notice him as he made his dash. The others did, though, and they screamed out at him asking him what he was doing and that it's dangerous. He ignored them and didn't stop running until he was about a foot away from TK. He uttered a battle cry as he tackled his brother to the ground. He heard TK express his shock as they landed on the ground. Once they were on the ground, Matt sat on his brother and held his arms down. TK tried to free himself, but Matt was stronger. He had to hold back a smile; he always had won their wrestling matches when they were kids. He looked into his brother's eyes hoping to see some hint of recognition. TK was only shooting him a vicious glare.

Matt was phased by the look his brother had given him, and TK was able to push him off. TK quickly got to his feet and so did Matt. The two brothers continued staring right into each other's eyes. Suddenly, TK lunged towards Matt who was not expecting it. He closed his eyes as he waited for a fist to hit him across the face… but it never came. Matt opened his eyes and found that TK and NeoDevimon were gone.

* * *

She heard laughter, a vicious, cold laughter, as the darkness that had trapped her opened up. She was forced to her feet by cold hands and she looked up and nearly died of fright. In front of her stood the digimon from her dreams.

"Sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. I am Dragomon, and these are Scuabamon. Pathetic little digimon, but they can be helpful sometimes."

"Wha… what do you want with me?"

"I told you before, child of light, I want you to be my bride. You see, in this dark world of mine I lack light. You are the child of light. With you here, I will be able to strengthen my power and the power of this Dark World. We will grow so strong that we will be able to take over the Digital World together."

"I never will help you."

"Oh, you won't? It doesn't seem as if you are in a position to be telling me no. I can easily destroy your partner, you see?"  
Kari looked and saw that Dragomon had Gatomon in its tentacle and a trident was pointing right at Gatomon.

"GATOMON! LET HER GO!'

"Ummm, I think I'm going to be like you and say 'I never will help you'"

"I won't ever help you. I'm going to get my partner back, and you are going to die!"

"Haha! Such big words from a small girl. Let's see if you keep this up after I destroy your partner. FORBIDDEN TRIDENT!"

Kari watched in horror as the trident flew right at Gatomon. Kari looked away as the trident was about to hit Gatomon. Through her closed eyelids she saw a flash of light and had the urge to open them, but she couldn't. Tears streamed down her face as she realized that her partner was gone, and it was all her fault.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

Well, you guys asked for a fast update so here it is. This chapter is a very fast-paced, high action chapter. Not a lot of detail in the fights, but oh well. Let me know how you like the chapter and the story overall in a review!

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Chapter 17:

"Guys? Did you hear that?"

Tai wanted to hit Davis, even a deaf person would have been able to hear that explosion. He ignored Davis and said,

"Come on guys!"

They ran towards the explosion. Tai knew it was the others, it had to be, but he worried about what it could be. They had been waiting for the others by the lake for a good half hour or so before they heard the explosion. It was getting dark out, and the explosion only confirmed their worries. The others were definitely in trouble. But by who? The Digimon Emperor had come after them.

It only took a couple of minutes of running before they saw the others. It was an odd scene. Cody, Joe, and Mimi were holding their partners who were in their in-training forms with a confused look on their faces. Izzy was standing next to Kabuterimon looking equally confused, and then Matt was standing off a ways from the others looking as if he was about to be hit.

"Uhh… guys? What's going on here?" Tai asked.

No one answered him. Matt opened his eyes and looked around with shock on his face.

"Wh… Where did TK and NeoDevimon go?" Matt asked to no one in particular.

"TK? TK was here!?" They had found TK? That was good news!

"He was here, but then he just… disappeared," Matt said now looking disappointed.

"How could he just go like that? It's highly illogical that he could do such a thing," Izzy said.

"Wait a second. You guys need to tell us what happened. From the beginning, now."

They all gathered around each other and Mimi, of course, was the one to tell the story.

"Well, you see, once we split up we started walking in this direction looking for TK. I tried to cheer everybody up, but no one was really paying any attention to me. I guess we all were just tired of walking because we walked for like forever. Then, we were going to start heading back because the sun was starting to set and all. It was then that TK appeared. He was with this really scary digimon that was really strong. Both TK and the digimon, NeoDevimon was its name, had these dark spiral things on them. TK didn't even recognize us, and the digimon defeated Togemon, Ikkakumon, and Digmon as if they were nothing more than babies. I thought we were goners, but then they just disappeared. Poof, they were gone. And that's when you guys showed up!" Mimi finished with a smile.

"Umm…" Tai started, but he didn't know what to say. They had found TK, but TK was controlled by the Emperor. Also, there was a digimon under the Emperor's control that was strong enough to defeat Togemon, Ikkakumon, and Digmon. Also, the fact that TK really was under the control of the Emperor made him worry about what could have happened to Kari. What if the Digimon Emperor had caught her? Luckily, Izzy came to his rescue.

"Well, I think we need to go home and rethink things through. I take it you guys didn't find Kari?" Izzy said looking at Tai. Tai shook his head and Izzy nodded.

"Right, well, let's go back to the real world… ALL of us," Izzy glared at Matt when he said this, but Tai didn't know why, "And we can come back tomorrow. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!"

"Too bad I won't let you go back to your world before I kill you all."

Tai nearly jumped out of his skin. The voice sounded so familiar, and he instantly remembered who it was. How could he forget the voice of their first villain in the Digital World? It was Devimon. Tai turned around along with the other digidestineds and looked at the demon. Devimon hadn't changed at all, but that wasn't a good thing. Devimon had nearly destroyed them all those years ago, and it was thanks to TK that they were able to defeat him and, well, TK wasn't exactly here, was he?

"How nice to see you all again. Oh, and some new faces as well! Pleased to meet you, but it's a shame that I'm going to have to kill you as well."

"You aren't going to hurt any of us Devimon!"

"Oh, the child of friendship, isn't it? Aren't you the brother of the child of hope? What was the boy's name? TJ?"

"Don't talk about my brother."

"Yeah you stupid digimon. And his name was TK, not TJ!"

Matt uttered a curse at Mimi, but Mimi must not have heard it.

"TK, how could I forget that name? Too bad he and his digimon aren't here to help you out. You didn't even stand a chance against me without him. This should be a piece of cake."

"We aren't going down without a fight. Agumon?"

"Right."

Agumon along with Biyomon, Hawkmon, and Veemon all digivolved leaving Greymon, Birdramon, Garurumon, Kabuterimon, Halsemon, and Flamedramon to battle Devimon.

Devimon simply laughed. "Your efforts are amusing indeed, but they are made for nothing. You have no hope, no pun intended."

"Garurumon, shut him up please."

"You too Greymon."

"Kabuterimon, you as well."

"Bidramon."

"Be careful Halsemon."

"Flamedramon, go kick some butt!"

"Death hand!"

Devimon outstretched his claw and shot a blast of dark energy at the digimon. All of them were able to dodge and they shot their own attacks at Devimon. Devimon didn't even move to dodge the attacks. They hit dead on and an explosion resulted. Once the smoke cleared there was nothing left. Davis and Yolei both cheered, but the older digidestineds knew that it couldn't be that simple. They were right because Devimon started laughing. Tai looked around, but Devimon was nowhere to be found.

"Death claw!"

A black puddle formed underneath Flamedramon and Kabuterimon. Devimon's claws emerged from the ground and Devimon caught the two digimon in his claws. He crushed the digimon and threw them back to the ground. Kabuterimon landed hard on the ground and dedigivolved into their in-training forms. Izzy and Davis ran to their digimon.

They all were shocked by what had happened and the same thing happened to Halsemon and Birdramon. Sora and Yolei ran to their partners as well. Now only Greymon and Garurumon were left. Things weren't looking good at all.

* * *

"GATOMON!"

Kari finally gathered the courage to open her eyes, but when she looked up she gasped in shock. Dragomon roared in frustration and Kari could only watch at what happened. She watched in awe as all the Scubamon and dark spirits tried to fight back, but to no avail. He was able to destroy them without much effort at all. Then, there was only him and Dragomon left. Dragomon threw a trident at the digimon, but the digimon held out his claw. The trident stopped in midair, turned around, and flew right at the unsuspecting Dragomon. The trident pierced Dragomon's skin and Dragomon screamed out in pain. Then, the digimon lunged for Dragomon with its claw stretched out in front of him with what looked like electricity flowing through it. The claw pierced Dragomon and Kari saw electricity all around Dragomon. The digimon drew back his claw before powering up another attack and stabbing Dragomon again. Dragomon roared in agony before deleting into bits of data.

Everything was happening so fast. Where was Gatomon? Had the digimon destroyed Gatomon during that rampage? She looked around and saw… no, it couldn't be. She blinked, but the sight didn't change. TK was walking towards her with the dark angel-looking digimon walking behind him. He also had Gatomon in his arms. Kari smiled and yelled out,

"TK!"

He had come and rescued her, just like he always had. Even though she hadn't seen him in four years he still was here. As she ran towards him, though, she noticed that something was wrong. TK's normally sapphire eyes were now pitch red and didn't show a hint of recognition in them. The joy and happiness that TK always had was gone, leaving coldness and… emptiness. Then Kari saw it, on TK and on the digimon. There was a dark… spiral? That couldn't be good.

"TK?"

Once again, nothing. She stopped running towards him after seeing that he continued looking at her with that cold, empty look. She got a better look at the digimon too, and the digimon reminded her of a… demon. Was this TK? No, this wasn't TK, it was a dark spiral TK. And could the digimon possibly be Patamon?

Kari continued to stand there as TK walked towards her. He finally was standing right in front of her and Kari continued looking into his eyes. There had to be a way they could beat the dark spiral's power, but she had no idea how.

TK handed Gatomon over to Kari who gratefully took her partner into her arms.

"Gatomon are you ok?"

"Yeah, thanks to TK."

Kari looked back at TK who now pulled out his digivice and held it in his outstretched arm. His digivice started glowing and what she guessed was a portal formed. She was shocked when he took her hand in his and pulled her through the portal. She closed her eyes as she was surrounded by light.

* * *

"GREYMON!"

"GARURUMON!"

The two digimon had tried their best to dodge the demon's claws, but it was hard to dodge something you couldn't see coming. They were crushed and were thrown to the ground. Devimon laughed and emerged from the ground. Tai and Matt both ran to their partners. Now what were they supposed to do?

"That was way too easy…. Wh… What is this?"

Tai looked up from Koromon and saw a bright light randomly form in front of Devimon. Out of the light came NeoDevimon, and Tai could only guess who would follow. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw TK emerge from the light, but then his mouth opened wide. Kari and Gatomon emerged from the light.

"KARI!"

Tai picked up Koromon and ran after his sister who smiled and yelled out his name in return. As he ran at her he didn't even see the horror on Devimon's eyes as NeoDevimon turned on him and lunged forwards. He didn't even watch as Devimon deleted into bits of data and NeoDevimon dedigivolved into Patamon. All he cared about was Kari, he finally had his sister back. She ran into his arms and they shared a very long hug.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

Ok, this is going to be a long list(which is good!) so please bear with me. Thank you for reviewing the last couple of chapters:

I.C.2014 (let me know what you think of all the evil characters with their own agendas as the story goes on)

Twillightfairy (btw I corrected the problem with Cody appearing in both parties haha... thanks for pointing it out)

DranzerShadowWanderer(I love pokemon but I've never really played black or white so I'm not sure which one Emboar is haha... I can't believe I made that mistake. I guess my fingers just type too fast, that and I'm too lazy to go back and correct grammar and spelling errors haha)

Lilfoc(thanks for the regular reviewing and I hope you continue to do so!)

DCLWLOKPR44424 (hahaha I love your reviews and thank you for reviewing regularly!)

Gamermon(gotta love those cliffhangers! and thank you for your reviews!)

The Keeper of Worlds(yes you may get a cookie. just tell me what kind you want)

Asahina Twins(Love your reviews too! But I've noticed that your twin sister hasn't been here the last couple of reviews... I hope she's ok)

And THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY ELSE WHO HAS REVIEWED THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS!

It is so awesome that this story has 80 reviews! Anyways, you guys don't want to hear me rant on about how much I love getting reviews and how they encourage me to keep on writing and they make my day and ... oops, there I go again. Where was I, oh, right, next chapter. Here ya go! and I hope you enjoy it. Please Review! ^^

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Chapter 18:

The night was beautiful. The moon shone brightly over the Digital World and there were hundreds of stars in the sky. A streak of light zoomed by and somehow he knew that it was a shooting star. TK wished he could enjoy the night, but he couldn't.

He couldn't get that girl out of his head. The girl had short, brown hair and she had mahogany eyes. She looked naïve, but he could tell that she was a very strong person, not one to be messed with. He also noticed how beautiful she looked when she had hugged her brother. Light just seemed to emanate from her, and he couldn't believe that he was allowing this girl to have such an effect on her.

He didn't even know who this girl was, did he? No, the only person he knew was his master. He winced at the thought of what his master was going to do to him. At the time he was filled with confusion about everything. Why did he feel like he knew that digidestined girl that he had saved? Why didn't he destroy the other digidestineds when he had the chance? Weren't his orders to destroy the digidestineds, including the girl? And this digimon he was riding, why did he feel like he should know him as well? There was one thing, though, that he was not confused about; he had disobeyed his master's orders and for that he was bound to be punished.

The cold night air was starting to get to him so he started rubbing his exposed arm to keep it warm. As he did this, his hand touched something that shouldn't have been there. He looked at his arm and found a black spiral-thing circling his arm. What exactly was the point of this thing and how in the world did it get there? He also had noticed the same spiral-thing on the digimon he was on. He tried to remember how it had gotten there, but nothing came to him. In fact, the only memories he had were of what had just happened. He could not remember anything that happened before he received the orders to destroy the digidestineds. He knew there had to be more than just that… right? He could not think clearly at all; it was as if something was hindering him from thinking straight. He looked at the dark spiral again and something clicked in his mind. This… thing was the reason he couldn't remember anything. Maybe this digimon he was riding was having the same problems as well.

He looked away from the spiral and saw his master's fortress in the distance. He sighed as he played out in his mind what his master would do to him when he found out that he had failed him. The digimon flew through a hole in the fortress and they entered it. As soon as the digimon landed and he got off he could hear footsteps coming towards him. This could only be his master. He faced the hallway where the footsteps were coming from and frowned as he saw his master walk swiftly towards him with a furious look on his face.

"What in the blazes do you think you're doing?!"

His master narrowed the distance between them so much that his face was only inches away from my master. TK tried his best to keep looking into his master's eyes, but he couldn't do it.

"Did I not order you to destroy the digidestineds?"

He figured it was a rhetorical question so he acted like he had a sudden interest in staring at his shoes.

"Answer me!"

"Uh… yes. Yes, master, you did."

"Then why didn't you?!"

"I… I don't know. I just couldn't do it."

"What do you mean you couldn't do it?! Tell me what happened now."

So he did what he was told. He told him everything that had happened, just how it happened. He felt like he shouldn't, but when he finished telling his master what had happened he continued,

"Master, I cannot think clearly with this thing on. This spiral or whatever thing, can't you take it off? Maybe I'll be more help to you if…."

"NO! Go to your rooms, both of you, until I give you your next orders."

He wanted to go after his master and try to convince him more, but he couldn't. Master told him to go back to his room, so that's what he was going to do. He watched the digimon start glowing and change forms into something much smaller. Now, he looked like an orange guinea pig with a cream-colored chest and two orange bat wings that acted as his ears. As he watched the digimon fly off to its room he felt a strange feeling. Surely he knew that digimon, but he didn't know how. His memory was gone. He walked back to his room and couldn't help but think that his master was hiding something from him.

* * *

He sat with his head in his hands as he tried to think of how he could fix his current predicament. The dark spiral's power was ineffective, yet the boy still called him his master. The dark spiral should not have allowed him to think his own thoughts at all. Its power should be strong enough that the boy only followed his master's orders. The boy, though, was talking and thinking freely, and he might start catching on that something is wrong. He had asked for him to remove the dark spiral for pete's sake.

But how was he supposed to solve this problem? It's not like slapping another dark spiral on the boy would solve anything, would it? No, two dark spirals on the digimon was almost too much. He remembered the painful cries the digimon had let out when the second dark spiral attached to the digimon. That much pain on a human could kill him, and he didn't want that… yet anyways. The boy needed to destroy the digidestineds first.

He punched his desk hard as he realized that today should've been the day that he wouldn't have to worry about those stupid digidestineds. But they had once again managed to escape.

"Ken, dear, are you ok in there?"

"Yes mom," he said, annoyed by the distraction.

"Ok, if you need anything your father and I are right out here."

He sighed, stupid parents. They did not know anything that he was going through. Taking over the Digital World was already a lot of trouble, but then having to be the best soccer player on his dumb team and getting the highest marks in his school. It wasn't easy being a genius, you know?

'Right,' he thought as he realized he was getting off topic, 'back to ruling the Digital World and destroying these digidestineds.'

The boy needed to be dealt with. He could not risk the chance of him regaining his memory and joining the digidestineds. Maybe he could use a bit of, uh, forcefulness to make the boy do his will.

The blonde digidestined was not his only problem, though. He thought back to his own battle against some of the digidestineds. He had defeated them, but then the older digidestineds had been able to digivolve. How in the world did they overpower his dark digivice's power. They should never be able to digivolve when a control spire is in the area, which it was. Yet, somehow they did it. They had glowed too, as if they had some sort of power inside of them. He thought back to what the girl had said to him,

"…we have something that you lack. We have love!"

It was then that she had started glowing and her partner was able to digivolve. The other one was able to digivolve after the digidestined saved the girl by risking his life for her. There was something there, something that he felt he should recognize, but he couldn't. He was simply confused.

A yawn escaped him and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. He looked at his alarm clock that sat next to his bed. 10:25 p.m. it read. Yeah, it was a little early, but hey, he was tired. Like he said before, being a genius was not easy work. He turned off his bedroom light before crawling into bed and closing his eyes.

* * *

"TK come back!"

She called after him, but he did not even look back. She was sad that TK was leaving. He was controlled by the Digimon Emperor now, or was he? He had after all saved her from the Dark World, and the Digimon Emperor would never order a servant of his to save a digidestined. She felt bad that she couldn't help TK and she worried about him, but she couldn't help but be happy. All the sadness and, darkness, she guessed she could say, had left her once TK saved her. How in the world he got to the Dark World in the first place was a mystery to her, but she didn't care. She and Gatomon were both alive, and they were back in the Digital World with their friends. None of them were hurt either, which was an additional bonus.

"KARI!"

She nearly fell over as Yolei tackled her in what she was guessing was a hug.

"You're ok! Please don't ever run away like that again! I was so worried for you."

"I promise Yolei," she said laughing. The others walked up to her as their digimon de-digivolved into their rookie forms. All of them asked if she was ok and what had happened and she had to tell them a million times that she was ok. She did not tell them what had happened, though. She didn't want to relive her experience in the Dark World anytime soon.

Once they all were convinced that she was ok Tai spoke up saying that they needed to hurry back to the real world as soon as possible. So they all started making their way back to the television where they had entered the Digital World.

It got dark really fast, but Kari did not have much time to take in the beautiful night. Instead she was busy making sure Gatomon was ok and explaining to Tai exactly what happened. She hated telling him what had happened, but he was her brother who only asked out of love. After she finished, Tai was appalled.

"You mean there's another world besides the Digital World?"

"Well, it could've just been another part of the Digital World? There were digimon in this place."

"But we've been all over the Digital World and haven't been anywhere like there before. Actually, we've never even heard about it from Genaii or any of the digimon."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"When aren't I right?"

Kari couldn't help but bust out laughing. A couple of the others, including Tai, stared as if there was something wrong with her, but she ignored them and continued to laugh. It was the fact that Tai had said that in such a serious tone, and the fact that he actually believed it made it even more hilarious. Ok, maybe it wasn't that funny, but she was just so relieved that everything was ok.

"Well, I'm glad you're ok Kari. We'll talk about this Dark World later."

Kari watched as her brother walked away from her. She stopped laughing and watched as his brother walked away from her. She was confused at first, but then she saw Tai start walking next to Sora. Instantly Sora smiled and started giggling at something Tai said. Tai's face lit up as he walked with her. Kari felt a smile appear on her face. She always wanted the two of them to get together, but she had thought that Sora was going for Matt. Matt. She looked around the group and found the blonde boy walking about five feet behind the group with his head down. Kari slowed up until she was walking next to him. She may not know Matt very well, but he was her friend and she always wanted to help her friends out.

"Hey Matt," she said enthusiastically.

Matt looked up and gave her a weak smile, "Hi Kari. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, but I want to know how you are."

They continued walking in silence for a while. Kari could feel the awkwardness building up, but then Matt finally responded.

"I'm not good. I want to go find the Digimon Emperor and just… do whatever it takes to get my brother back. I can't stand going back to the real world knowing that TK is here somewhere being controlled by that fiend."

Kari was glad that Matt was opening up to her, but she didn't know how she could help him out. She felt the same way.

"I know what you mean Matt, but I don't think staying here is your best option. I mean, all of us combined was not enough to destroy NeoDevimon, and we don't want the Emperor taking control over you as well."

"Yeah, but what if…"

"Matt, there's nothing we can do to help TK out. The best we can do is to go back to the real world and come up with another plan. Think about it; before this all happened we didn't even know where TK was and if he was alive or not. Now, though, we know he is alive and we know where he is. Also, I think the dark spiral's power on him is starting to wear off."

"What do you mean? It didn't seem like it was wearing off when he fought me."

"You two fought!?"

"Yeah, he was about to punch me before he disappeared."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah, so what exactly do you mean the spiral's power is wearing off?"

"Well, sure TK didn't recognize us or anything, but he saved me. I mean, if he was under the complete control of the Emperor he would've destroyed me. Also, when we returned from the Dark World…"

"Dark World?"

"I'll tell you later. Anyways, when we returned he could've destroyed us easily. The Digimon Emperor would never let a servant of his let his enemies escape so easily, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right!"

Matt smiled at her which made her smile back. She had been able to make him feel better, and that was all that she wished to do.

"Thanks Kari."

"No problem, and if you ever need to talk to someone I always have open ears."

"Hey guys, we've finally made it back!" Tai called out from the front of the group

"FINALLY! Let's go back now! DIGI…" Davis started.

"DIGI-PORT OPEN!" Yolei shouted cutting off Davis.

Davis was starting to say something in return, but they all were surrounded by a bright light and were sucked into the television.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Quick update, and I already have two reviews for the previous chapter! Thanks you guys! Another chapter, so let me know what you think of this one and the previous one. Please let me know how you feel about my writing in a review! Enjoy!

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Chapter 19:

"TK? TK is that you?"

He sighed. He did not want to wake up yet, he was still pretty tired. The voice, though, he recognized the voice. He didn't know from where, but it was a friend. He opened his eyes and stood up.

Darkness was everywhere. That was it, well, except for the glowing image in the distance. He looked at his own body and saw that he was glowing as well. He looked exactly like himself, mind you, but his body seemed to be giving off light, just like the other person in the distance.

As he looked at himself, he noticed that dark spiral was still on his wrist. He ignored it, though, as the girl ran up to him.

"It is you TK!"

He looked at the girl who gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen. She seemed to glow even brighter when she smiled, but that could've been his eyes playing a trick on him. He wished he knew this girl's name because she obviously knew him, and although he knew she was familiar he didn't know exactly who she was.

"Ummm…. Hi?"

The girl's smile faltered at his hesitance.

"TK? Don't you remember me?"

"I… I'm sorry. I feel like I should know you, but I got nothing."

"It's me, Kari!"

Kari, that was the girl's name. Then it all clicked. This was the girl that he had saved, a digidestined.

"You… you were the one I saved, right?"

"Yes, and thank you for doing so! I can't imagine where I'd be now if you didn't. But, then again, I don't know where I am now either."

TK had no idea where they were at either, but he felt uncomfortable with this girl present.

"I.. I have to go."

"What, why?"

"My master will be even more upset if…"

"TK you have no master! The Digimon Emperor put you under his control. You are a digid…"

"I am not one of you. I serve my master."

"TK…"

She reached her arm out and grabbed hold of his hand. His first reaction was to jerk his hand away, but he couldn't. This girl truly cared for him, he could tell that much.

"You are a digidestined. The Digimon Emperor has you under his control. This thing," she said pointing at the dark spiral, "is why you are under his control. And I know that you know I'm right. Why else would you have saved me?"

The girl was right. He could definitely tell that something was wrong, and this dark spiral was causing problems for him. If only there was a way he could destroy it…

Kari reached her other hand out and grabbed his wrist. Her hand touched the dark spiral and a bright white light shone. Instantly he felt pain. He could feel light trying to come inside of him and fill him up, but there was darkness inside of him and it fought back. This war between light and darkness seemed as if it were equal, and TK felt more and more pain as the light and darkness continued fighting.

"TK, you gotta fight back. Don't let the darkness win."

He could feel the darkness trying to take over his mind. It would be easier just to give in to it, but he couldn't. Kari was depending on him. She believed he could fight back. And so he did. He focused hard on extinguishing the darkness. He ignored the pain the best he could and continued focusing on fighting the darkness. He heard Kari encouraging him and he got stronger as she did so. The darkness realizing that it was almost finished moved to his head. Darkness filled his mind and the pain was too much to ignore. He cried out and he heard Kari encourage him one last time. Finally, the light extinguished the darkness. TK fell to his knees, panting. He heard someone else panting as well as they placed their hand on his shoulder.

"TK… are… you ok?

He opened his eyes and looked at the girl kneeling beside him.

Then everything went black.

He woke up with a start. He sat upright and wiped the cold sweat off that had appeared on his face. He regained control over his breathing and rubbed his eyes frantically. Where was he? Actually, as he thought about it more, the better question was who was he? What was he doing here? Was he dead? He looked around the dimly lit room, but there was nothing. Well, that wasn't true. There was something in the room, but he had no idea what it was. It was broken metal, broken black metal. An image of his wrist with a black spiral thing popped up in his head, and he quickly looked at his wrist. There was no black spiral on it, but there was a red mark that formed a spiral on his wrist, evidence that there was a black spiral thing on his wrist. What this black spiral was, though, he had not the slightest idea.

He heard the door to his room open up and slam shut. He looked at who was walking in and had to suppress a snort. This kid looked ridiculous. What, with his blue pants, his blue and yellow cape, and his purple hair that matched his sunglasses. He looked simply ridiculous, but he had a whip in his hand.

"Who are you?"

The kid looked horrified. The kid studied him and his eyes froze on his wrist, the wrist where the black spiral thing had been. Then the kid saw the black metal remnants on the ground and his lip started quivering. This kid was furious.

"How in the world did you destroy that spiral?"

"I… I don't…"

He didn't see the attack coming. The kid drew back his arm and threw the whip at his face which hit dead on. He put his hand to where he was hit and then held it out in front of him. He was bleeding. He looked up at where the boy was standing, but he wasn't there anymore. He heard the door slam shut. He sighed. He didn't even know what he had done wrong. Actually, he didn't know anything.

"But it was more than just a dream Tai."

"Yeah, and how do you know that Kari?"

"I… I don't. I'm just asking you to trust me."

Tai sighed. He loved his sister and knew that she was special having the crest of light and all, but did she really believe dreams were real. 'Well,' he thought to himself, 'she did have all those dreams about the Dark World and what do you know, those ended up to be true.'

"Fine. I will tell the others, but don't expect them to believe me like I do."

"Yay! Thanks Tai!"

She jumped up and hugged him. He hugged her back happy that she was there with him.

"Right, well we should go meet up with the others now."

"Right."

"Hey mom, we're heading out!"

"Ok, be safe you two!"

With that they exited the apartment and headed for their usual meeting place, the park.

It was a lot better of a day than yesterday. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it was the perfect temperature. The park was filled with life as little kids enjoyed the day off of school. He remembered how much he wished he and Kari could've came here and played, but they couldn't because Kari was sick all the time. Ever since their first journey to the Digital World, though, she was as healthy as an ox. Not that she shared any resemblance with an ox, it was just a saying.

He saw Matt, Joe, Mimi, Sora, Izzy, and Cody sitting under one of the bigger trees of the park. He and Kari exchanged greetings with the rest of them and sat and joined them. It didn't take much longer before Yolei and Davis, who was last of course, joined them.

"Sorry guys, I slept in a little bit."

"A little bit? Davis, you're fifteen minutes late!" Yolei growled at him.

"I… I know, but I'm here now aren't I?" he said with a smile.

"Right. So, now that we're all here, let's get to business," Tai said.

"Yeah, I guess the first thing we should talk about has to do with you Kari. Can you explain what happened?" Izzy asked as he turned to face her.

Kari looked nervous and Tai was about to stand up for her and tell them what happened, but Kari smiled and agreed. He listened as she explained everything, from the dreams she's been having, to her appearance in the Dark World, to being caught by the Scubamon, dark spirits, and Dragomon, and then how TK had saved her. Tai sneaked a glance at Sora who didn't notice. He didn't know what had got into him, but ever since… what happened yesterday he had started feeling weird about Sora. Was it just their friendship deepening, or was it more? He also wondered about how her and Matt were doing. Sora talked to him about how she liked Matt but was too chicken to ask him out. He also talked to Matt about how he felt about Sora and all he said was that wasn't sure how he felt yet. He looked at Matt who was listening, but looked really sad and extremely tired. Bags were evident under his eyes and he figured he didn't get much sleep. He couldn't blame him; if Kari was taken by the Digimon Emperor he had no idea how he would deal with it.

"It sounds like there's another world out there."

"You mean there's more than just the Digital World and our world?"

"I'm sure there's lots of worlds we don't know about yet, but as of right now we should not worry about them. By the sound of it, Dragomon, the ruler of the Dark World, was destroyed so the Dark World should not be a threat to any of us anymore."

"What about the other worlds you talked about, Izzy?"

"They're not bothering us right now, are they? I'd say we just forget about them and worry about more pressing matters, such as getting TK back."

Tai quickly looked at Kari and their eyes met. He sent her a look that said 'Remember what I told you. Don't expect them to believe you.'

"Umm, about that. I had a dream last night…"

And once again Kari explained her dream this time to everybody else. He knew it was a lost cause and that they wouldn't believe her, but who was he to stop his sister? When she finished he looked around at the others. He wasn't surprised at the looks of confusion and doubt on their faces. Well, except for Matt. He looked ecstatic.

"Is that true Kari?" Matt asked.

"Yeah. But I don't know… it probably was just a dr…"

"I believe you!" he said.

"Thanks Matt." She smiled at him and he smiled back. Their smiled faded, though, as Izzy spoke up.

"I don't know Kari. I'm not questioning your dream, I'm just saying that I'm not sure if it really happened. I mean, dreams aren't really real…"

"What about my dreams about the Dark World? They were real!"

"Yeah, but…"

"I don't care if you guys believe me or not, I just wanted to tell you. I felt it was important."

The others nodded but didn't say anything in return.

"Well, true or not, this doesn't make us any closer in getting TK back. He's still in the hands of the Emperor," Izzy said.

"Well, then we just will have to defeat the Emperor then!"

"Yeah, down with the king!"

"DOWN WITH THE KING!"

They all busted up laughing. It was great to be together, but the fact that they were there to talk about the Emperor and TK made the mood tense. The laughter stopped shortly and they resumed their conversation.

"Yes, we all know we need to defeat the Emperor, but how exactly? If you didn't notice, that digimon TK was with, NeoDevimon, was able to defeat us without much effort. And we can't digivolve past the champion level."

They all stayed silent because they didn't know how to answer Izzy. It seemed hopeless, no pun on TK inteneded. Then Mimi, yes Mimi, spoke up.

"Hey guys, what if NeoDevimon is Patamon?"

I laughed a little bit.

"Patamon be NeoDevimon? Mimi, when Patamon digivolves he becomes an angel, not a demon."

And then it clicked. The Digimon Emperor did have the dark digivice, and he was making Patamon digivolve. Tai remembered that time many years ago where he forced Agumon to digivolve to ultimate causing SkullGreymon to come about. What if the Emperor was doing the same thing to Patamon?

"I know Tai, but remember SkullGreymon? What if Patamon is going through the same thing?"

"If that's the case, then we have to be careful when we fight NeoDevimon from now on. We don't want to hurt Patamon."

"So, if we destroy the dark spiral…"

"Dark spirals" Matt corrected, "there were two of them."

"Ok, dark spirals, then Patamon will return to normal, right?"

"Yes, just like the other digimon."

"Well, then it's simple. All we have to do is destroy the dark spirals."

Tai knew it was much harder than that, but the way Mimi said it made it seem as easy as baking a cake. Then again, it was very hard for him to bake a cake without burning it.

"Yeah! We have to, for TK and Patamon!"

"We can do it! We haven't let anything stop us before so why start now?"

"Exactly! We've got to fight. And once we win we will have TK and Patamon back."

"So it's settled then? We're going to the Digital World to fight NeoDevimon?"

"Yupp! Let's do it!"


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Ok, so I have to address this first. Asahina Twins... I am a guy, NOT a girl!

Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Thank you for all of the reviews and I hope you guys keep reviewing!

So, this chapter was extremely fun to write. Like, no joke, I had so much fun writing this and I'm so excited for the rest of this story. Writing using a "no memory" TK is very fun, and I hope I did a good job with it. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!

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Chapter 20:

It was a beautiful day in the Digital World, just like it had been in the real world. He often wondered how the two worlds could be so similar yet different, but he didn't think much on it. He hated that it was such a nice day outside, when inside he felt like his plans were crumbling. The boy had somehow destroyed the dark spiral, but apparently he didn't have his memory back. The digimon still had his dark spirals on so that also was a good thing. He wondered how he could use the blonde boy to help him destroy the digidestineds.

He couldn't put another dark spiral on the boy. He had somehow destroyed the first dark spiral, so what was to say he'd do the same if there was another dark spiral. Maybe he could toy with the boy's memory, but he discarded that idea as well. Somehow he knew that deep down the boy's memory would return to him, and when it did he didn't want the blonde boy to be anywhere near him. And then it came to him.

He laughed as he perfected his plan. It would definitely work, and if it didn't then he didn't know what would. So he started preparing to carry out this plan.

He typed on his keyboard until a map of the Digital World popped up. He watched it impatiently as he waited for the digidestineds to appear. To pass some time away he typed more on the keyboard and an inventory of all the digimon he had under his control popped up. He had many rookies, a couple of champions including Snimon and Unimon, and then one ultimate, NeoDevimon. Even if they were able to defeat NeoDevimon he had an army of digimon under his control. The digidestineds would never win.

He continued to watch the map of the Digital World and as he did so he heard Wormon crawl up to him.

"Master, what are you planning?"

He smiled at being called master. Too bad this digimon was pathetic.

"Today I'm going to destroy the digidestineds."

"I thought you did that yesterday."

He growled at the digimon, the stupid digimon. He always seemed to make him get in an even worse mood. He swore he heard Wormon start laughing which made him growl even louder.

"Shut up, you worthless digimon."

"Ken, are you sure you want to destroy the digidestineds? Is that what you really want?"

"Call me MASTER! And of course I want to destroy them. All they do is get in the way of me ruling the Digital World?"

"And do you really think you can rule the Digital World, Ken? You need to stop this childish dream. You need to give up being the Digimon Emperor."

He turned around in his chair so that he faced Wormon. He stood up and drew his arm back. He threw his arm out and the whip he held in his hand hit hard on Wormon. The digimon let out a groan of pain and stared sadly at him.

"You didn't use to be this way Ken. You were the kindest kid I've ever known. Now you turned into a monster…"

He turned back around in his chair and looked at the map of the Digital World. It felt good to whip the digimon, why hadn't he done it before? But he couldn't help but feel unnerved by his digimon's outburst. Was this really what he wanted? Did he really want to destroy the digidestineds and hurt countless numbers of digimon along the way? He shook his head. Of course he wanted that. How could he let that stupid worm have such an effect on him? He once again thought about his perfect plan and laughed.

* * *

How long had he been sitting here for? He had no idea. It angered him too that he couldn't remember anything at all. He knew his name was TK and that he shouldn't be here, wherever here was. Other than that he didn't remember anything. Well, other than the fact that getting hit by a whip hurts.

At least the bleeding had stopped but his face still stung. The pain was starting to dull, but it was still there. Who exactly was that guy, and why did he have to whip him? What had he done wrong in order to deserve that?

He winced as the door opened. He didn't want to get whipped again, but when he looked at the door he didn't see anything other than the door was opened. Then he looked at the ground and saw the green worm crawling up to him. The digimon looked very nervous as he moved closer to him. Then, the worm, a worm!, started speaking.

"Come on! We need to get you out of here before Ken finds out!"

"Umm… you can talk?!"

"Of course I can talk. You act like you've never seen a digimon before."

A digimon? What in the world was that? And who was Ken? Was he the guy who had whipped him?

"I'm sorry, but I can't remember anything."

The digimon muttered something about 'stupid… ken…. Dark spiral… not for humans.'

"Come with me. We don't have much time."

TK continued sitting, though. Who was to say that this wasn't a trap, and what if this Ken guy found out he had escaped. He didn't feel like getting whipped again.

"Hurry! We don't have much time before Ken realizes what I'm doing."

He was reluctant, but he finally decided to follow the digimon. There was no reason to stay in this room until this Ken guy came back. Maybe he would be able to get his memory back once he was out of this room.

He got up to his feet and quickly followed the… digimon was it? He looked around him as he followed. It looked as if they were in a dungeon. Prison cells were on both sides of the hallway and there were glowing eyes that watched them as they ran through the hallway. Every once in a while one of the things would jump out at them and he would jump back in fear, but the worm digimon kept on crawling as fast as he could and TK followed. Eventually the cages stopped and the walls changed to glass. TK looked through the glass wall and saw what looked like an orange guinea pig with two bat-like wings. He felt a sense of familiarity inside of him, but he could not remember who this… digimon, he was guessing, was. The worm digimon opened the door that led to the room and the guinea pig with wings watched him as he neared. Then the worm yelled out

"Silk Thread"

The worm shot two strands of thread at each of the creature's bat wings. He didn't notice them at first, but there were two black spiral things on each of the digimon's wings. They were the same type of spiral that was on him at some point.

"Worm Tail!"

The worm swung his tail at the digimon and he heard metal breaking. When the worm was done attacking, both of the digimon's ears were free of the black spiral things. He heard the broken metal clatter as it hit the floor. The digimon's eyes, that were a creepy red at first, had now become blue. The digimon had a look of confusion on his face, but then he looked right at him and a smile formed on the digimon's face.

"TK!" the digimon shouted out.

The digimon flew out of the room and right into his arms. TK was confused, but he caught the digimon and held him close to him. The worm digimon left the room as well still looking nervous, but he had a smile on his face.

"You guys better go! Ken is sure to find out soon, but before you go promise me that you will help Ken. He doesn't seem like it, but he is a really kind person deep down. He is my partner and I cannot stand to see him like this. Please promise."

I had no idea what he meant. This Ken guy seemed like a pretty evil guy and he didn't seem like he'd ever been nice before or was going to be nice again anytime soon. Patamon, though, looked at Wormon and nodded.

"We promise."

We? The digimon had said that as if the two of them were some kind of team. He hated not having his memory. He realized that he would have to rely on what other people told him about his past and he never would be able to know if it was true or not.

The worm digimon nodded and started walking away. TK had to blurt out "Thank you" before the digimon got out of hearing range. The worm digimon looked back at him, nodded, and then continued crawling away.

The digimon in his arms then looked up at him with a huge smile across his face. The smile faded, though, when the digimon realized that he wasn't smiling back at him.

"Umm…" he started. He tried as hard as he could to remember something about this digimon, he really did, but nothing came to him but emptiness. He grew frustrated with himself. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

The digimon opened its mouth in shock. The digimon was appalled, and TK felt bad that he didn't remember anything at all, but that wasn't his fault, was it?

"It's me, Patamon! You have to remember me!"

Again he tried to remember something, anything, but he got nothing in the end.

"I'm sorry…"

The digimon, Patamon was it, looked hurt as if he had slapped him in the face. Tears almost formed in the digimon's eyes, but Patamon blinked them away. Patamon regained his composure and said,

"Right, well we can't worry about your memory right now. All I have to say is that I'm Patamon, your digimon partner, and we need to get out of here now."

The digimon jumped out of his arms and went flying through the hallway in front of him. Patamon flew on looking side to side as TK walked behind him. They went down about ten different hallways before Patamon just gave up.

"We're practically lost in here, and the Emperor is bound to realize that Wormon let us go sooner or later. Why didn't Wormon show us the exit before leaving us?"

"Umm…. If you're a digimon like this Wormon, can you use attacks as well?"

Patamon nodded in return.

"Well, maybe you can break through the walls or something."

"No, I'm in one of my weaker forms right now. Maybe if I were to digivolve to champion…"

Patamon stopped and looked at TK as if a light bulb just went on inside his head. Patamon smiled at him and asked,

"Do you have your digivice?"

"My what?"

"Your digivice. It's a digital device sort of thing. Izzy says it's like a mini computer."

More questions formed in his mind such as 'Who was Izzy?' and 'What is digivolving?', but he disregarded them, he had to. He rummaged around in his pockets and his hand instantly found something in his right pocket. He pulled it out and looked at what it was. It was exactly what Patamon had described, except the digimon didn't tell him that it would be green.

"Is this it?"

"Yes! Now, just say 'Patamon, digivolve.'"

"What? Why?"

"Just do it TK."

"Fine. Patamon, digivolve?"

A green and white light emanated from the device and Patamon started glowing. He watched in awe as the digimon started changing forms. He had to look away because of the brightness of the lights. When they dimmed down, Patamon was no longer there. In his place stood a horse? No, horsed didn't have wings, this was a pegasus. The pegasus had the same colored fur as Patamon and he had two bright, golden wings. The digimon wore golden armor on various parts of its body.

"Are… are you still Patamon?"

"Well, yes and no. I am the same being, but I have changed forms. Pegasusmon is a new form, basically this form is a stronger version of Patamon. I'm sorry, but we don't have time for questions right now. We have to get out of here now."

As he said that there were footsteps running towards him. TK watched as Pegasusmon shot a green beam of light from his forehead at the wall of the hallway. The light came into contact with the walls and there was an explosion sending dust and rubble in the air. He had to cover his eyes so that dust or broken pieces of rock didn't fly into them. When he decided it was safe to look again he opened his eyes and saw a big hole in the wall. Light filled the hallway and TK moved to get a better look outside of the hole, but Pegasusmon was standing right next to him motioning him to get on. TK was scared, but he mounted the pegasus and they took flight. He gasped as they flew out of the hole and he found himself many feet above the ground. The initial shock of flying left him, though, and he found that he loved flying. It was as if he had done it before, and he had loved it.

They flew outside of the hole and TK looked below them. Way down below trees cluttered the ground. At times the trees would stop leaving a nice looking meadow, but then they would continue again forming what had to be one of the biggest, most dense forests he had ever seen. Not that he remembered any of the forests he saw before losing his memory. He looked behind him and saw a big floating… rock? The rock had a hole in it and he realized that that was where he was being held hostage. Beyond the floating fortress was a bright blue, endless ocean that extended for what seemed like forever. He looked around for birds or other signs of wildlife, but there were none to be seen which made him confused.

"Where are we going exactly?" he asked Pegasusmon.

"We're going to put some distance between us and that fortress, and then we're going to go back to the real world. That is the only place where we'll be safe from the Digimon Emperor."

The real world? Wasn't this a world that was real? He was so confused, and thinking about it only made him more confused. He wanted to ask Pegasusmon more questions, but the digimon, his digimon, was starting to grow tired from his flight.

"Do you need a break Pegasusmon? We can take a quick breather."

"I'm… I'm fine… uh… maybe you're right TK."

Pegasusmon dove towards the ground at a high speed towards one of the meadows. TK thought they were going to crash because Pegasusmon wasn't slowing down at all. They now were only fifteen feet away from the ground… ten…. TK screamed right as Pegasusmon gave a mighty flap sending air that rushed past his face. TK opened his eyes, for he had closed them out of fear of dying, and saw that they had landed on the ground. Pegasusmon laughed as TK got off. He watched as Pegasusmon started glowing and changing forms again. This time when the light was gone, Patamon was there smiling at TK.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I'm so confused… but, I have to admit that that was awesome. Flying is the best feeling ever!"

TK couldn't help but smile back at the digimon. Although he didn't know who the digimon was he could tell that he was going to make a good friend. Maybe even be his best friend.

TK looked around the meadow and saw a television. He wondered who would set a television down in the middle of nowhere, but not after first wondering if it worked and how they got electricity out here.

"Patamon, why is there a television right here?"

"Oh, look at our luck! Quick, TK. The Emperor is bound to be on our tail."

TK followed his digimon as he flew up to the TV.

"Get your digivice out."

He did so without taking his eyes off of the television. What kind of channels did it get? Maybe the Comedy Channel was on…

"Now, point your digivice at the TV and say 'Digiport open.'"

The ground started to rumble and TK turned as he saw a huge, black dinosaur looking monster. The digimon was running at them at full speed. Up above a giant insect and another horse with wings were flying towards them. On the horse was the same guy who had whipped him, Ken.

"TK DO IT!"

"DIGIPORT OPEN!"

Adrenaline rushed through him as he shouted it out. A white light shone from the television and he was sucked into the television. He disappeared, but not before hearing Ken scream out in frustration.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Here's a long chapter, probably could've been made into two chapters but oh well, to make up for not being able to write again for a while. We have lots of basketball along with school and I have to get ready for college... ughh... so don't like yell at me for not being able to update anytime soon. Also, please pardon any spelling/grammar errors because this is such a long chapter and, well, I'm too lazy to read through it and correct them. Anyways, thanks to all you who keep on reviewing! Like I said before it means so much to me! Please keep reviewing! Now, here's chapter 21!

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Chapter 21:

They landed with a hard thud on the wood floor. TK let out a groan as he pushed himself off of the floor. Then he quickly looked behind him in fear that Ken and the, what he figured were digimon were right behind him. He was no longer in that meadow, though, and no one besides Patamon was there. As he studied his surroundings he found that he was in an empty house.

"Patamon, where are we?"

"I don't know. We could be anywhere in the real world right now."

"What do you mean by the real world?"

Patamon sighed. TK felt bad for having to interrogate his partner so much, but he had lost his memory and Patamon was the only one there to ask questions.

"Well, we were in the Digital World. The Digital World is home to digimon, like me. The real world is your world, home to humans."

"So there are people here that will help me? Family and friends maybe?"

"Yes, and the next thing we have to do is find them."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Odaiba, Japan."

"And that is where exactly?"

"I have no idea."

"Right…."

So, basically what he knew so far was that his name was TK. He only remembered waking up in the Digital World, home of these talking monster things, where he was held prisoner by this Ken guy who Patamon had called the Digimon Emperor. Wormon freed him and Patamon, his digimon partner, and they were able to escape. Patamon was able to 'digivolve' into a pegasus with the help of this strange device TK somehow possessed called a digivice. Ken had chased them, but they made a quick escape through a random television to the 'real' world or 'human' world. They had no idea where they were in the real world, but they had to find friends and family who were located in Odaiba, Japan. He sure knew a lot.

"Well, let's explore this house, shall we?"

TK looked around the room they had landed in. In this room was a bed, a desk with a chair, and on the desk was a computer. TK noticed that the computer screen was lit and a window was up. He walked closer to the computer and noticed that the window had a moving image in it. He saw the Digimon Emperor standing a little ways in the distance in the meadow where they had just escaped. His eyes moved from the image to a blinking green light. The green light kept blinking, and then suddenly it stopped and turned red. TK read the word on the red light, "Closed."

"That's the portal to the Digital World," Patamon said as he flew up to him. "The portal is closed now meaning that we are safe; the Emperor won't be able to chase us here."

"Well that's good. I don't know about you but I've had enough of that guy for one day," he replied as his hand moved to where he had been whipped earlier that day.

The portal closed on its own showing the desktop of the computer. The desktop was a picture. As he studied the picture he felt like he had seen it before, but he didn't know how or why. He noticed that there were not only humans but digimon as well in this picture. He looked at all of the smiling faces in the picture. In the back of the picture was an old grandpa sitting inside some robot. A green monster, maybe an ogre, along with what looked like a man from the waist up but a horse from there down. He remembered that these were called centaurs. There was a short red haired boy that looked kind of goofy but very smart as well. A red beetle digimon with large green eyes stood in front of him. A very familiar looking blonde boy in a sleeve-less green shirt stood next to what looked like a wolf with blue and white fur. This kid looked like the coolest out of the rest and he looked like he knew that fact. There also was a girl wearing a light blue hat standing behind a pink bird. Next to her was a boy with the biggest and wildest hair he had ever seen. An orange dinosaur was in front of him. A girl dressed in all pink with a pink cowboy hat stood next to a green flower with, of course, pink petals. The one that looked the oldest stood at the end next to a white seal or fish or something that could swim. He had blue hair and wore big, square glasses. His eyes froze on the shortest of all the humans. A little blonde child was dressed in green wearing a green ball cap with a blue jewel on it. Resting on top of the boy's hat sat an orange guinea pig with two bat wings.

"Hey, that's you Patamon!"

"Yeah, it is, and that's you," Patamon said pointing at the little boy TK couldn't take his eyes off of.

"That's… me?"

"Yupp! I think it was five years ago. This picture was taken at the end of our first adventure. We had just defeated Apocalymon, but Genaii told us that you guys had to leave the Digital World. We thought we'd never see each other again, so we decided we'd take this picture so that we wouldn't forget each other and our adventure."

TK laughed a little. This picture was taken so that he wouldn't forget, well, he had forgotten. Ironic, huh?

He turned away from the computer. He couldn't stand to look at this picture that he couldn't remember taking. He walked out of the bedroom and followed a hallway that led to stairs. He walked down the stairs that led him to a big family room. He expected to run into some people, but there was no one there. There was a big television in the room and he imagined seeing Ken appear from the TV with a whip in hand. He shook his head and continued exploring the house. He found a bathroom, a laundry room, a couple of closets, and the kitchen. As he walked into the kitchen his stomach growled. He instantly felt hunger and tiredness overwhelm him. How long had it been since he had a good meal? Of course, he didn't remember.

He rummaged around the cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer. He pulled out two plates and glasses and set them on the kitchen table. Then he placed two pieces of bread on each plate and took out a package of lunch meat from the refrigerator. He also grabbed a couple of slices of cheese and made two sandwiches. Next he opened up another cupboard and grinned, candy. He took out two Twix candy bars and set them next to each plate. Lastly, he turned on the faucet and filled the glasses with water adding a couple of ice cubes to each glass. He set the glasses down next to the plate and nodded, satisfied with what he was able to make up. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

"Hey Patamon, you hungry?"

It took three seconds before the digimon flew into the kitchen yelling out, "YES!"

TK laughed as the digimon landed next to one of the plates and practically inhaled the sandwich and candy bar and then chugged the water. Within ten seconds Patamon was done eating and was looking up at TK with a smile.

"Thanks TK!"

Patamon then looked at the other plate and was about to leap for the plate before TK swiped it away.

"No, mine!"

Patamon frowned, and then the two of them busted out laughing. TK happily ate his sandwich and candy bar a lot slower than Patamon taking sips of water between a bite every now and then.

When they were finished he took the plates and glasses and set them down in the sink. He had to admit that he felt guilty for practically stealing the food from whoever's this house was, but he excused himself saying that it was "for a good cause."

He continued looking around the house with renewed strength now that his stomach was full. He looked around the family room and noticed some pictures that he somehow had missed before. He picked up one of them and his mouth dropped. There he was, standing next to an older, blonde lady. As he compared himself to the woman TK immediately saw the resemblance. The hair color, the smile, the eyes; they all were identical. Then it hit him. The picture from the Digital World, the picture of him and what he guessed was his mother; if the two pictures were both in this empty house, then that could only mean that this was his house.

"Hey Patamon, I think I know where we are."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we're in France, Paris to be more specific. This is my house."

He didn't know how he knew that he lived in Paris, it had just come to him. Then, he realized that this wasn't his house, it was his grandparents mansion. But where was everybody?

"Umm, TK, you don't happen to know where Paris is, do you?"

"Well, no. If we had a map…"

"Oh, hold on one second."

Patamon disappeared from sight as he flew upstairs. He returned after a minute or so carrying a big piece of paper in his mouth. He dropped the paper into TK's hands who held it out as he sat on the couch.

It was a map. A big blue oval took up the whole paper. Inside this oval were random orange and white shapes.

"This is a map of your world," Patamon said excitedly, "Palmon showed me one similar to this when Mimi moved to New York. Look, the blue is all water, mostly ocean. The orange means land. The land is separated into sections and they each have their own name. New York is somewhere here…" Patamon said while pointing to the left-most piece of land, "And Japan is there…"this time he pointed to a piece of land that was surrounded by water.

"Now if we only knew where France…."

"There." TK knew exactly where to look, and he quickly found where the map said France. He frowned. France and Japan were very, very far apart. Even if Patamon digivolved and flew them there it would take months to get there. Surely there had to be a better way.

"Umm…. TK, I'm sorry but I'm not flying that far."

"I don't expect you to Patamon. Do you have any ideas?"

"Well, Palmon told us that Mimi had to take something called an airplane…."

"Of course!" He remembered that Paris had its own airport, but how in the world were they going to get on a plane? Not only did they not have any money, but he didn't think they would let a teenage boy get on a plane all on his own. But it was the only idea that they had, and he knew that they were going to have to go through with it.

"So let's get on one of those airplanes and go to Odaiba!"

"It's not going to be that easy Patamon. First off we need money…"

Patamon flew off again and when he returned he was carrying a big pouch of some sort. Patamon dropped it on his lap and TK opened it up. He smiled as he emptied its contents. Little pieces of paper fell all over along with small coins. Well, they had money; that was one problem solved.

"How did you find this Patamon?"

"It was under the bed of one of the bedrooms."

"This is great! But I don't know how they will feel about a teenage boy buying a plane ticket without anybody with him but an orange guinea pig with bat ears…."

Patamon looked hurt. "Please tell me you're not referring to me."

"I'm just telling you what you look like to me and probably every other human."

"Whatever…"

"Anyways, I don't know if they'd let me buy a ticket."

"You can always make up a story or something. And I can hide in that bag right there." Patamon said as he motioned his head towards a green book bag that was sitting down on the floor.

TK sighed. He knew it wasn't going to be that easy, but they would have to try it.

"Ok, fine, but I think we should wait a little bit. You know, use the rest of the day to just relax. We can worry about the plane tomorrow."

"That sounds like a great idea." Patamon said as he yawned. TK watched as the digimon who was sitting across from him on a Lazy-boy chair instantly closed his eyes. Within minutes Patamon was snoring. TK was amazed, he wished he could fall asleep that fast. As he watched his digimon sleep he realized that he too was tired. So many questions filled his mind, though. Where was his mom and grandparents? Why did Japan have to be so far away? Why was Ken called the Digimon Emperor? Who were the people and digimon in that picture on his computer? And why in the world did he have to lose his memory?

He thought for sure he wasn't going to be able to fall asleep, but it took only a couple of seconds after he closed his eyes before he lost consciousness and was asleep.

* * *

"WORMON!"

Where was the digimon? He didn't even have time to call Wormon any of the names he usually called the digimon such as wimp, pathetic, weak, and worthless. He wasn't even trying to poke fun at the digimon because those names were the truth. Wormon meant nothing to him; he didn't even know why he had kept him around now that he thought about it.

"Ye…. Yes Master?"

He turned around and saw the digimon nervously come closer to him. All the anger that had built up in him was now showing as his body shook and he stared at the digimon with a piercing glare.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?"

He drew back his arm and flung the whip at Wormon. Wormon held his two front feet in front of his face and he flinched in pain as the whip struck. He whipped the digimon again…. And again…. And again… and again.

"Worthless!" *whip* "Pathetic" *whip* "Good for nothing!" *whip* "Digimon!"

Wormon didn't fight back; he just took the beating. When he finally got tired he continued to stare angrily at the digimon but the whip rested as he held his arms to his side. He panted trying to regain his breath. Wormon was shaking and he guessed it was out of fear, but as the digimon looked up at him with his big, blue eyes tears were falling and Wormon was sending him a look of disappointment.

"Ken, I have never once given up on you once since you became the Digimon Emperor or whatever you call yourself. Many times I wanted to tell you how much of a… jerk you've been. I told myself that this was just a phase that humans went through as they got older. I watched you torture digimon! Put them up against each other. Try to kill other humans like yourself for goodness sake! Yet, I never gave up hope that the real Ken, the kind Ken, was still buried deep down inside. Well, I still am not giving up hope on you Ken, but I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving Ken."

And with that little rant the worm crawled away. He didn't know where the digimon was going, but he didn't care. Wormon was, like he said before, worthless. He had no need for the digimon. Heck, it was better that he was leaving since all he had ever done was aggravate him and set his most important prisoners free.

"Good! I don't want you here anyway! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!"

He sighed, well, that was one problem off his chest. Now he had to deal with the digidestineds. He walked back to his throne room and sat down while he typed on the keyboard. The familiar map of the Digital World popped up and he frowned. The past couple of days he had been worrying about the blonde digidestined and his partner so much that his control of the Digital World was slipping from him. He did have half of the Digital World controlled by his spires, but now there was only a quarter of them left. He needed to build more.

So he typed and typed as the familiar process of creating a control spire came back to his head. Time escaped him and he no longer knew how long he had been sitting in his chair. When he looked up he found ten dots clustered together on the map. That had to be the digidestineds. He watched waiting to see where they were headed, but they did not move. He smiled. They still thought the blonde digidestined was with him, and they were waiting for him to come after them so they could battle him and try to get their friend back. Well, they were wrong, but he didn't have the time to go face them himself. He typed a little more and an inventory of all the digimon he had prisoner popped up. He selected the digimon and went back to his control spire building.

* * *

"How much longer are we going to sit here Tai?"

Tai sighed. He loved being the leader, but sometimes he hated making all of the decisions. Why couldn't other people step up to the plate sometimes? He stood up and walked away from Mimi who had been asking him questions non-stop for the past two hours that they had been waiting by the lake.

"Umm… I'm going to go get some air Mimi."

"Oh, do you want me to come with you?"

"No, it's ok. You can go annoy… I mean talk to Joe though. He looks like he's quite bored over there."

Mimi looked over to where Joe was sitting and he used this time to escape. He walked away from the group and looked back at them. The digimon found an open plain to play tag in while their human partners sat in different groups. Yolei, Sora, Joe, and Mimi were sitting in one group. Mimi was talking excitedly to Joe who actually seemed happy to talk with her. He was surprised because he found Mimi very annoying sometimes. Sora and Yolei were in an intense conversation, probably something about boys or clothes or something else girly. Izzy sat with Cody and Cody stared at Izzy's laptop as he typed frantically. They added comments every now and then and Cody would open his eyes big in surprise every now and then. Matt and Kari were sitting next to each other, and for some reason this bothered Tai. His best friend and his sister were both laughing and looking happy. What exactly was going on between the two of them? He noticed that they were spending more and more time together, especially when they discovered that Patamon had gone searching for TK who might be in the Digital World. He clenched his fists and started shaking out of anger.

"Hey Tai! I found a vending machine and they had sodas. Can you believe it? Here, why don't you take one?"

He nearly jumped ten feet off the ground as he turned and saw Davis walking up to him with Veemon by his side.

"Davis, you scared me dude. Give me some warning next time."

"Oh, sorry. So, soda?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

"You're loss," he said with a smile as he ran off for the others.

Just then the ground started to shake and cracks split the ground open. He ran back for the others as they all jumped to their feet and Yolei screamed.

"EARTHQUAKE!" someone yelled out. Just then cracks started forming around the digidestineds and the Earth started to split open. Tai had almost made it back to the others when the ground in front of him turned into a hole. He didn't have enough time to stop himself and he fell into the hole. At the last second he reached his arm out and caught a hold of the ground. He quickly reached his other hand out seeing that his body weight was too much to hold with one arm and held on for dear life.

He heard Agumon calling out his name, but for some reason he wasn't getting any closer. Maybe the ground had split so much and Agumon couldn't jump to where he was holding on to.

The ground continued to shake and threatened to make him lose his grip. He was able to hold on, though, and once he felt confident enough he tried pulling himself up. He cursed himself for not working out more, but he was able to pull himself back up somehow. Once on safe ground, well, safer than the predicament he had just been in, he looked around and found that the rest of the digidestineds and digimon were scattered around on random bits of land that hadn't become a hole. Luckily, the ground stopped shaking. He was about to call out to the others, but he saw that they all had frightened expressions on their faces. He followed their eyes and saw that they were staring at three huge digimon that looked like a monster he had just read about in his literature class. What was it called again, a minotaur maybe?

The three digimon roared in unison as they ran right for the digidestineds. They were lucky enough to have big enough strides to go from one piece of land to another without any effort at all.

This wasn't looking too good at all.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Another chapter up! Past 100 reviews! Thank you and keep reviewing, please! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Chapter 22:

"I'm too young to die!" Yolei screamed watching the Minotaurmon near them. The others were horrified as well. All, except for Cody.

"Armadilomon, you ready?"

"Of course!"

"Right, digivolve."

Tai was impressed with the kid's composure. He figured Cody, being the youngest of the group, would be just as scared if not more than the rest of the digidestineds. He watched the oncoming Minotaurmon, though, with determination. He wasn't about to back down.

Armadilomon started glowing as he digivolved into Digmon.

"Go get them Digmon!"

"Hey, we can fight too!" Davis yelled out. "Digivolve, Veemon!"

"Yolei, I need to help the others!"

"Right…. Be careful." Yolei slowly responded.

"Don't forget about us!" Kari cheered!

Veemon and Gatomon digivolved into Flamedramon and Nefertimon while Hawkmon digivolved into Halsemon, and they joined Digmon who was jumping from one piece of land to another in order to cut off the oncoming Minotaurmon. Tai used this time to look over at Agumon who was staring right back at him.

"Can you digivolve?"

"No, we're in a control spire area."

He nodded. Izzy had told them that the only reason their digimon were able to digivolve in the control spire area was because they had been able to access the power of their crests. Tai at first thought this was crazy, but Izzy convinced him as he went on one of his long rants. Izzy said something like they had given up their physical crests, but their crests still loved inside them. After all, their crests were traits that each one of them possessed, like courage. You couldn't really give up your courage.

So, if Agumon was to digivolve again in a control spire area it would be by pure luck, at least that's what Izzy said. Tai sighed; he knew that these new digidestineds were strong, but he wished he could help. He hated being on the sidelines.

He watched the digimon fight, but as he did so a voice rose above the noise from the battle. It was a human voice, and it sounded very familiar, and not in a good way. He turned and saw the Digimon Emperor standing a little ways away from him and the digidestineds. As he glared at the Emperor he realized that it was just a holographic image or something, it wasn't the real Emperor.

"So, I see that my Minotaurmon have found you already. That's good, for me, not for you."

"Where is my brother?!" Matt yelled as he walked as close as he could to the Emperor. He looked… well, scary. Tai had never seen his best friend so mad before. No, that was a lie; he hadn't seen him that mad in a long time, let's just put it at that.

"Your brother? Is he a digidestined as well?"

This only made Matt angrier, if possible. "Yes, he is a digidestined."

"Sorry, don't think I've seen him around late…"

"Tell me where he is now! I know you have him under your control! If you don't give him back to me…"

"What? What are you going to do? Do you even know where I am right now? That's what I thought. Besides, even if I did have your brother, which I don't, I wouldn't just let him go because you threaten me."

"Wait, you don't have him?"

"No, a servant of mine turned against me and let him go after I found that the boy's dark spiral was destroyed. He was able to escape with his pathetic excuse of a partner."

All of the anger on Matt's face disappeared and was replaced with a big smile. Tai couldn't believe what he had heard either, and he had said it so convincingly as well that Tai almost believed him. But he couldn't help but wonder if this was another trick.

"Don't get your hopes up! The boy doesn't remember anything at all. His memory is completely gone, swiped clean. He is useless, and he will never remember any of you ever again."

"TK would never forget me."

"Don't be too sure boy. My dark spirals are powerful, and apparently they have an amnesia side-effect when used on humans. Heck, you never will even see each other again, now that he's disappeared into the real world without any of his memory."

Now Tai was confused. Why in the world would the Emperor make all of this stuff up? It had to be true, but then that meant that TK no longer remembered who he or anyone else was. Was that even possible? And on top of all that, TK was somewhere in the Digital World. Where, though? The real world is huge; he could be anywhere.

"Stupid Minotaurmon."

Tai had completely forgot about the fight that was going on, but when he looked back he saw that the Minotaurmon were running off and the digivolved digimon were circling the Emperor looking at him threateningly.

"Well, digidestineds, looks like my time is up. Good luck trying to find the other dumb digidestined."

With that the image of the Emperor vanished. Tai's mind was whirling as he thought about what the Emperor had said. He looked at the others and saw that they all had confused expressions on their faces as well. At least he wasn't the only one. Well, they all did except for Matt. Matt had his worried face back on.

Tai took a step to join the others realizing that he was really far away, but he stopped himself realizing that he would step right into a hole if he did.

"Hey guys, I think we we should get out of here," he called out.

They all looked up at him and nodded. Flamedramon jumped over and carried him over to where the others were. The digimon grabbed Davis and then jumped from a piece of land to another until they were on stable ground. Digmon did the same with Cody and Izzy. Halsemon carried Yolei, Joe, Gomamon, Mimi, Palmon, and Sora. Nefertimon had Kari, Matt, Gabumon, and Agumon. The two digimon flew towards them and landed as Biyomon and Tentomon followed suit. Once they all had made it over, Flamedramon, Digmon, Halsemon, and Nefertimon dedigivolved back into their rookie (champion for Gatomon) forms.

"Well, I think it would be best if we all headed back to the real world now," Izzy said and they all agreed and started walking to the spot where the television portal was at.

Tai watched as Matt suddenly stormed off ahead of them. He was about to run off after him and Mimi screamed at Matt telling him to stop, but Kari said,

"Don't worry you guys. I got this," and she stormed off chasing him. The anger he had felt before when he had spotted the two of them talking by themselves came back to him. His anger must have been evident because Sora came up to him and started walking next to him.

"Tai, are you ok?" she asked looking into his eyes. He looked right back into her eyes and the anger left him instantly. He found himself lost in her loving, mahogany eyes. He tried to resist it, but he couldn't and his cheeks flushed red. He looked at his feet hoping that she wouldn't notice.

Sora giggled and Tai couldn't help but think it was one of the cutest things in the world. "Seriously, though, you can talk to me Tai. I know something is bothering you, and I have a feeling it's more than what's been going on with TK and the Digimon Emperor."

He sighed. He wasn't very good at talking about his feelings with other people unless it was Kari, but she was too busy 'comforting' Matt.

"I… I don't know. Honestly, Sora, its noth…"

"Don't tell me it's nothing Tai. You can talk to me; I am your friend you know."

"Fine, it's just… I'm a little uncomfortable about how close Matt and Kari have been lately. She's been spending more and more time with him, and I shouldn't be angered by it since they're friends and all, but…"

"It sounds like you are worried that Matt is going after Kari, Tai," Sora said with a smile, "Which I can assure you is not the case. Matt is going through some tough times right now, that's all. I mean, his mother and grandparents are now dead. He's living alone with his dad who is depressed about the whole situation as well. And on top of all that there's been all of this stress about TK that he's had to deal with. He wants TK back as soon as possible and every time it seems like we're getting closer to finding him TK keeps getting farther and farther away. I guess it's all been getting a little too much for him, and Kari has been trying her best to help him feel better."

Tai felt horrible. Now that he thought about it, Matt was going through very hard times right now. He couldn't imagine being in Matt's position. What made him feel bad, though, is that he, Matt's best friend, has not talked to Matt to see how he was doing. He should be the one that Matt goes to, the friend that Matt could trust to make him feel better, but instead Kari was the one doing that. Her and, he guessed, Sora as well, by how much she understood what Matt was going through.

"Wow, I've been such a bad friend, and brother. I didn't even realize how hard this was on Matt, and I never thought for once that Kari was just trying to help Matt. I should be the one talking to Matt; I am his best friend after all."

"I'm not going to deny that, and, you know, it's not too late to tell Matt that you're sorry. He's going to need your help because I have feeling we won't be seeing TK anytime soon."

Tai nodded. "Thanks Sora, for helping me come back to my senses." He looked away from his feet and dared a look into her eyes. She beamed back with a big smile on her face. Once again he blushed and looked away instantly.

"Anytime Tai!"

When he looked up he noticed that Matt and Kari had stopped walking. When he and the rest of the group caught up to them, he noticed that they were back at the television. No one needed to say anything, they all were anxious to get back to the real world. The sun was setting and tiredness was starting to get to some of them, mostly the younger digidestineds. They all raised their digivices and Yolei, as usual, called out,

"Digi-port open!"

The familiar white light came out of the television and surrounded the digidestineds and their digimon. They all were sucked into the television and returned to the real world.

* * *

The airport was quite a long walk from his grandparents mansion, but he didn't mind it at all. He loved walking around France, though he wished Patamon didn't have to hide in his backpack. The city was fascinating, especially with all of the snow. White covered everything: the sidewalks, the roads, the roofs of the buildings, and with the sun out a bright, almost unbearable glare was present. Luckily he had found a pair of sunglasses and a coat before he left his grandparents mansion.

He still couldn't shake off the worry that had formed when his grandparents and mother did not show up over the night. They should be home, at least he thought, but then again what did he know? They could've moved somewhere else for all that he knew, though he doubted it. He felt like he should've known where they were, but, like everything else, he couldn't remember. He asked Patamon about what had happened and if he knew where they were, but the digimon simply said he didn't know and quickly changed the subject.

Even though it was his grandparent's mansion, he couldn't help but feel guilty about taking off with the things that he took. He took all of the money from that pouch Patamon had found the previous night because he wasn't sure how much a plane ticket would cost. He also took a pair of nice sunglasses, a green backpack, a coat, a change of clothes, and a couple food items for him and Patamon. Patamon told him that his family wouldn't mind and that most of the things were probably his anyways, but he still felt bad. That was why he left a note in the house saying that he was sorry but he had to run off to Odaiba. He had written it out that morning before leaving.

They had been walking for over fifteen minutes now and hadn't found the airport yet. He couldn't help but feel lost even though he was holding a map of the city. Patamon was starting to get antsy and was fidgeting around in the backpack. TK heard Patamon undo the zipper that closed the bag and the digimon popped his head out.

"TK, are we there yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Do you even know where we're going?"

"Uhhh…"

"Great, so we're lost?"

"No, I know we're in Paris somewhere…"

"Even I knew that much. Why don't you ask someone for directions?"

"That sounds like a good idea. Now, back in the bag."

Patamon sighed annoyingly but obeyed. TK looked around to see if he could find someone who was willing to help. He spotted a police officer and figured that he would be a good person to ask.

"Excuse me officer?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, what can I help you with?"

"Um, I need help finding the airport. I'm kind of lost."

"You have a map and yet you're still lost?" the officer said laughing, "Well, you're lucky, the airport is only a couple blocks away. Take a left at that street light and then go straight past two more lights. At the third light take a right and the airport is on that road."

"Thank you very much officer."

He turned to leave but the police officer put his hand on his shoulder stopping him.

"Hey, do I know you?" the officer said as he face looked like he was trying to remember something that had happened recently.

"No, I don't think so. May I go now?"

"Yes, of course."

So he walked off using the police officer's direction but not before looking behind him one more time where the officer was still staring at him in confusion. TK didn't think anything of it, though, and he walked for five more minutes and finally reached the airport. The place was huge. There were two levels. The first level had a bunch of clerks at desks along with a bunch of weird looking machines, and he couldn't see what was on the top level because of all the people that were up there. He turned his head back and said

"We're here Patamon. Now I gotta get us a ticket."

He heard a muffled "ok" and walked off to one of the clerks. Thankfully there was no line so he walked right up to her and said,

"Hi. I need a ticket for Odaiba."

"A ticket to Odaiba? Are you going to be flying by yourself?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, my dad and brother both live there and I'm going to visit," he said as convincingly as possible even though it was the truth.

Patamon was able to tell him more about his family while they stayed the night at his grandparent's mansion. The kid in the picture who thought he was too cool for everybody else was indeed his brother. He didn't know exactly about having that guy as his brother, but Patamon had said that Matt was really nice and was a good friend. That meant he had to be a good brother right?

He didn't learn much about his dad except that he worked at a television station. Patamon had told him more about the other digidestineds, though. Tai was the one with the crazy hair who was the leader of the group. He was the most courageous and gutsy of the group, and his partner was Agumon. Sora wore the blue hat and was a very kind, loving, and protective person. Her partner was Biyomon. Mimi, her partner was Palmon, was the one who wore all pink and supposedly was very nice as well, but she didn't like fighting. Joe had the blue hair, and he was the most reliable out of everyone else. His partner was Gomamon. The one with the beetle as a partner, the beetle's name was Tentomon, was Izzy. Izzy was the smartest of all the group and was always looking for answers. Finally, Patamon told him about a little girl who TK didn't notice when he first looked at the picture. Kari was the same age as him, and Patamon had told him that they were best friends on their adventure to the Digital World. TK knew he had shared a strong bond with the girl, but he could not remember anything about her.

"Oh, I see. You know that plane tickets cost, though, right? It's going to cost more than your allowance."

"Is this enough?" TK asked as he brought out the pouch filled with money. He took out two of the paper slips that said '500 euros.' The clerk's eyes widened as he pulled out the money.

"How in the…"

"Is that enough?" he said with a determined face.

"Let me see. You want to go to Odaiba? That would be flight number 347. The cost for that is… yes, that is enough."

He smiled. Maybe getting a plane ticket was not that hard to get.

"But I need to see an I.D. before I give you your ticket."

TK silently cursed to himself. An I.D., he didn't have one of those, and he needed to get to Odaiba!

"I… I'm afraid I don't have one."

"I see. Well, what's your name?"

"Takeru Takaishi."

"Takeru Takaishi. Ok, let's see what pops up Takeru."

She started typing on her computer and stopped, looking at her screen. She typed a little more and the machine that sat to her left printed out a slip of paper.

"It seems that you have flown with us a lot four years ago. Since we have you in our computers I won't need an I.D. Here's your ticket," she said handing him the slip of paper and a couple of money slips and coins. "Now, you need to go through those machines on my left, your right. Once you get through those they will take your bags… which it doesn't seem that you have any, and you will wait in the transit lounge for your flight. Have a good day and a nice flight."

"Thank you very much," he said walking away from the woman as quickly as possible. He had his ticket and he wanted to get out of there before the clerk decided to take the ticket back.

"We got the ticket Patamon!"

"Woooot!"

He looked at the ticket and read it.

"Paris to Odaiba. Direct Flight. One Passenger. Departure Time: 11:15a.m. Arrival Time: 7:15a.m. One Way Ticket."

He looked around the airport for the time, and he finally spotted a clock that said it was 10:00. He sighed; he would not only be in the air for his flight a long time, but he also would have to wait an hour and fifteen minutes before his plane took off. Oh well, maybe Patamon could tell him a little more about his life.

TK walked to the officers who were standing next to the weird looking machines just as the clerk had told him. He got in the back of the line and noticed that people were placing their bags on a conveyor belt that took their bags inside one of the machines. He also watched as people walked through another weird machine that would sometimes beep as someone walked through it. Some of the people that the machine beeped for would be taken away by the officers. He hoped that he wouldn't be one of those people.

He took off his shoes and placed them next to his bag that had Patamon inside and put them on the conveyor belt. He watched as Patamon went through the machine, but then the conveyor belt stopped and moved backwards. It started moving forwards again and then stopped.

"Hey kid, you have to walk through here."

"Oh, right."

He walked through the machine and he cursed as it started beeping.

"Hold it right there."

One of the officers pushed him back through the machine and told him to walk through again. It started beeping again and the officer sighed.

"Do you have any metal items on you? Or maybe an electronic device like a cell phone or iPod or something?"

Oh no. He had his digivice in his pocket, and although he wasn't sure what exactly it did, he understood that it was important. He couldn't let them take it away for him. He pulled it out slowly from his pocket and the officer held his hand out. TK was reluctant, but he gave up the digivice.

"What is this?" the officer asked as he eyed it trying to figure out what it was.

"Uh… it's…"

"Hey Frank, let the kid through. That just looks like one of the video games my kids play with."

The officer named Frank didn't look like he bought it, but he gave him back his digivice and let him move on. TK walked over to the conveyor belt and saw that Patamon had finally made it through. The man working the conveyor belt looked at him as he picked his bag up.

"A little old for stuffed animals, aren't we?"

TK smiled. "You're never too old."

And he walked away from the man who was laughing at him as he walked away. He didn't care though. He had made it! They did it! They were going to be able to get on a plane and be in Odaiba by the next morning. Relief rushed through him, and although he didn't know what to expect once he arrived in Odaiba, he knew that it was what he needed to do and he might be able to get his memory back when he got there.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

So I just now realized that this story has 109 reviews! I am so overwhelmed with how many people are reading this story and are taking the time to review! I can't tell you how much it means to me, and, I know I may sound like a broken record, but it is the reviews that make me want to keep writing this story. I love it when you guys' critique the plot, my style of writing, etc, but I also love even the one word reviews. So, I thank you all for reviewing, and I urge you all to please leave a review, even if it is just a one word review!

This chapter is a shorter chapter. I could've made it longer, but it would've been a LOT longer because the next part is all TK's perspective(and it's going to be... interesting and unexpected, and I hope you all will like it) and I didn't want to overwhelm you guys, and this was a good ending spot, and I didn't want you guys to wait too much longer for another chapter. Anyways, this chapter is all in Matt's perspective. It's cool because it lets you see Matt's side of what's going on, and it hints at a couple pairings(let me know what you think). Well, hope you like this chapter and the story, and I hope I can update soon! Please review!

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Chapter 23:

Matt woke up tired from the previous night. Not only did they defeat the Minotaurmon and find out about TK, but Mimi had thrown a surprise party for all the digidestineds when they got back from the Digital World. Mimi was leaving early this morning, and as he looked at what time it was he realized that Mimi had already left. Joe had dropped her off at the airport because his medical school or whatever it was he was doing was close to the airport. Matt had a faint sense of why Joe really wanted to be the one to take Mimi back, though.

He smacked his alarm clock which caused the annoying beeping to instantly stop. The clock read 10:30 a.m., and he cursed himself for staying up so late. He lazily got out of bed and forced himself into the shower. He threw on some clothes and quickly brushed his teeth before walking into the kitchen.

The kitchen was empty, as usual. His dad had already left for the television station at which he was a reporter. His dad had spent longer hours at the station, especially once his mother, Nancy, hadn't allowed TK to visit Odaiba again. He said he understood her reason, he had after all seen TK's injury thanks to the fight against Diaboromon, but he said he'd never forgive her for her decision. Not only had he been spending more time away from the house, but his father had become depressed since hearing the news of his ex-wife's and ex-mother and father-in-law's deaths. Matt never knew that his dad still had feelings for his mom, but the way his dad had acted recently proved that he still had feelings for her.

The sadness that his father felt seemed to be all around the house. Whenever Matt was home he could feel the sadness in the air. There was no life in the house, no excitement, no joy, no happiness, nothing. That was one thing TK always was able to do. TK could always bring a smile to one's face. His hope seemed to light up and brighten everybody's moods that he was with. It was contagious, and Matt missed it so badly.

"He's in the real world. I don't know where, but he's here."

The thought of TK coming back caused a little hope to rise up inside of him, but he remembered the words the Emperor had said. TK didn't have any memory. Was the Emperor telling the truth? Or was this some cruel joke by the Emperor? Matt didn't know what to believe; he could only hope. His hope, though, was nothing compared to his brother's.

He opened the refrigerator and pulled out the gallon of milk. He opened a box of Oreos and took five cookies out of the bag. He poured himself a big glass of white milk and put the gallon back in the fridge. True, this wasn't really the healthiest of all breakfasts, but it was good, and it was something that they had in the house.

He finished his breakfast quickly and threw his milk glass in the sink that sat atop a heaping pile of dishes that was getting larger and larger. He sighed, he was hoping that his dad would've done the dishes for once, but he did not. Not that it surprised him; Matt had become the true parent of the household doing every chore, doing the cooking, and even buying the groceries. He didn't know what his dad would do without him there.

As he looked at the time he grabbed his guitar from his room and ran out the door. He never tried to be late, but somehow he always seemed to be at least five minutes behind his expected time to work. Luckily, the Inoue's didn't care if he was late. His first job was working with his band, the Teenage Wolves, but his father had made him get another job because as he said, "You aren't going to make enough money in the music industry. Eventually all the popularity is going to die down and music won't make you a nickel." That is why he was starting to save up money for college by working at Yolei's family's department store. They were in need of an extra person on the crew since Yolei's older brothers and sisters were starting to move to college, and Yolei had asked the digidestineds if anyone needed a job. Matt took a five-minute interview before the Inoue's hired him. It wasn't much money, but working at the department store was super easy and a little money was better than no money.

It took him the usual ten minutes to walk to the department store, and, as always, he was late by a couple of minutes.

"Sorry … I…"

"It's ok Matt. I heard about the farewell party for, what was that girl's name, Mimi? I know you're late because of the late party. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you very much, ."

"Now, how long do you work today Matt?"

"From 11:00 'till 7:00."

"Ok, well, and I are going to be away during that time. Yolei should be here around four or so, but then she's going to a movie with Davis, Cody, and Kari."

"Why isn't she home now?"

"It's Monday. She has school."

"Oh."

"So make sure you lock up the store when you are finished. You know everything else. Ok, bye Matt."

"Bye ."

With that exited the department store. There were no customers there yet so he took this time to plug in the radio system and put on his favorite station. He heard a bell ring and he looked at the door to see who had entered. He ducked under the desk though and sighed in annoyance. It was Jun Motomiya.

* * *

He finally was home after a longer than usual walk home from the department store. It had been a long, boring day and he was tired and happy to be home. He wasn't necessarily in the greatest of moods as he plopped down on the couch in the empty apartment.

First off he had come across Davis, Yolei, Cody, and Kari who had just finished their movie and were heading to go get ice cream. It wasn't that he was upset about meeting up with the younger digidestineds, it was the fact that he was reminded of all the times that he and the older digidestineds used to hang out when they were younger. That was many years ago. Now, they had seemed to be growing farther apart. Besides recently, they haven't spent much of any time together because they all were busy with their own lives. Tai and he had been best friends after their adventures in the Digital World, but as time went on their closeness seemed to be dwindling away. He had spotted Tai glaring at him while he was talking to Kari the other day and his suspicions were confirmed. They no longer were best friends. Joe never was around anymore because he spent so much time studying. Mimi moved to New York. Izzy had high school, and when he wasn't there he was working on his computer trying to come up with some sort of new software. Sora, now that was a touchy subject. As he thought about her he remembered seeing her as he walked home from the department store.

He was walking through Odaiba and had come across a familiar restaurant. When they were a real family, they always had family dinners there at least three times a month. As he walked by he couldn't help but stop and look through the window at the inside of the restaurant. He looked around at the place and his eyes instantly froze on a couple that were eating and talking together. It was Tai and Sora. Sadness overwhelmed him as he tried to decide what was going on between the two of them. This obviously was a date, so, were the two of them dating? If so, then there went his dreams of being with Sora. Ever since the battle against Diaboromon, he and Sora had gotten really close. She helped him deal with the loss of TK and his mother, and with all the time they spent talking Matt had developed a… love for Sora. He wanted to tell her how he felt for the longest time, but he never had been able to man up enough to ask her out. He was afraid that she wouldn't feel the same way and that not only would he have lost his own brother, but he would've lost Sora as well. And he certainly didn't want that.

As he thought about it, the only digidestined he had spent a lot of time with lately was Kari, and that was only because she worried about how he was doing. He appreciated her talking to him, because she really did help him feel better, but the sadness would always return. Yes, his once close group of friends were slowly starting to further themselves, from him at least.

He was shaken from his thoughts as the phone started to ring. He debated on getting up to answer the phone or not, but he finally decided that he should get up and answer it in case it was important news. He was glad he answered the phone.

"Hello, is this Matt Ishida?"

"Yes, may I ask who's calling?"

"I am Tyler. I work for the Paris Police Department and I called last week to give you news on your family in France."

"That's right!" he said excitedly. "Did you find my brother?"

"Well, yes…. And no."

Matt's excitement dropped suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I met him a couple of hours ago on the street. He came up to me and asked me for directions to the airport. I didn't recognize him, so he told him the way and he left. I finally realized who it was and ran off to the airport. When I got there I talked to a tickets clerk who said she sold a ticket to your brother for a flight headed to Odaiba. The plane had already taken off, though."

His excitement raised back up again.

"So, my brother is heading for Odaiba?"

"That is what we believe, yes."

"And you are sure it was my brother?"

"Yes, I even went back to your grandparents mansion where I found a note he had written. It said that he was going to Odaiba. It's a twelve-hour flight and the plane an hour ago, so he should land in Odaiba in eleven hours' time."

Eleven hours? That would mean he'd land around seven tomorrow morning. This was the best news he had heard in…. well, a very long time.

"That sounds great, officer. Thank you so much."

"Yeah, well, I'd love to hear when your brother gets in Odaiba, so if you would please give me a call at…"

The officer gave him a number which Matt wrote down.

"Ok, I will."

"Have a good day."

"You too."

Matt hung up the phone with a smile on his face. His previous thoughts of his distant friends and his chances of having a relationship with Sora vanished from his mind. TK was going to be back in Odaiba! With a memory or without a memory, Matt was going to have his brother back. He couldn't help but be happy!

He didn't even hear his dad walk in the apartment so he jumped when he heard his father's voice,

"What has you in such a good mood, Matt?"

Matt turned quickly but relaxed when he saw that it was his father. Maybe his father would even be happy when he heard about the news.

"I just got off the phone with the same French police officer…"

"And…."

"And he said that TK is on a plane headed to Odaiba right now!"

"WHAT!?"

Matt couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, he said that he even met him and showed him where the airport was, but he didn't recognize him at first. When he realized it was TK he ran to the airport but TK was already on the plane. He said that TK will be here by seven tomorrow morning!"

"That's…" Matt watched as a tear escaped his father's eye. A big smile was on his dad's face though, and Matt hugged his father.

"We're going to get TK back dad!" he said, a tear of happiness and relief escaping his eye as well.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Well, I'm not sure how you guys are going to like this chapter. You all seem to be anxiously awaiting TK's reaction to being back, but... you'll just have to read and find out. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and it really develops TK's character and how he's going to act in future situations, whatever those may be because I don't even know what's going to happen in the rest of this story yet. This chapter, to me, adds excitement to the story while keeping you guys on your heels not being able to guess what's going to happen next, and hey, you guys didn't really think it would be that simple did you? And I'm actually starting to lean towards the sad ending because of how dark the story already is and... well, we'll see what I decide to do with the rest of this story.

Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and I also hope you guys let me know what you think of the story by taking the time to leave a review for this chapter! :D

* * *

Chapter 24:

"TK, I can't stand being in this bag anymore. It smells terribly in there, and it's small, and it's…"

"Fine!" he finally agreed to take Patamon out of the bag. They had just sat down in a chair in the transit lounge. TK set the bag of food on the chair next to him and opened up his bag. Patamon let out a cry of happiness and humped out of the bag. TK quickly grabbed the digimon and put him on his lap. He nervously looked around trying to see if anyone had seen the digimon, well, stuffed animal. Patamon was a stuffed animal in public, or at least that's what Patamon had told him he was. Something about humans not being accustomed to seeing digimon and because of that Patamon had to act as a stuffed animal so as not to freak the other humans out.

"You're supposed to be a stuffed animal, Patamon. You can't go flying around and squealing like that."

"Sorry, I was just too happy about getting out of there. You have no idea how bad it was in there. And hey, I do NOT squeal!"

TK smiled and said "Yes you do."

Patamon put on a fake pout face which left instantly when his eyes landed on the bag of food. He sniffed and looked expectantly at him.

TK grabbed one of the breakfast sandwiches out of the bag and gave it to his partner. He took the other one out and unwrapped the paper that surrounded it. He inspected the sandwich. He didn't feel comfortable eating the food because he had no idea where it came from. Well, he had bought it from a restaurant called McDonalds, but what he meant was that he didn't see the food prepared in front of his eyes. The meat, though, looked like real meat and the bun was definitely made out of bread, real bread he hoped, so he took a bite of the sandwich. It was the most delicious sandwich in the world; at least he thought it was. Actually, the only food he remembered eating was a candy bar and a lunch meat sandwich, so of course he thought this was the best thing in the world. He had to sip his orange juice that he had bought as well because he ate the sandwich in three bites and his mouth was dry. He sighed and smiled now that he had a full stomach. He looked at Patamon who was gulping down the orange juice.

"Hey, leave me…"

Patamon drank the last bit of orange juice.

"Never mind…."

"Ah, that was great TK!"

"Would've been better if I had more orange juice," he muttered to himself.

He looked around for a clock and saw that it was 10:33. So he still had forty-two minutes until his flight. Well, the good thing was that he would be able to talk to Patamon and maybe get some questions answered.

"Hey, Patamon?"

"Let me guess, you want me to tell you more about your past?"

"Yeah, and my family too."

The digimon sighed. Apparently this was a long, tedious story to tell, and by Patamon's expression it didn't seem like it was that happy of a story either.

"Fine, but you want to know everything? Everything about your family and all about the adventures?"

"Of course!"

"Well, it all started about five years ago…"

And so TK listened intently as Patamon told him the story. Actually, it wasn't necessarily a story because it was true. What Patamon was telling him had happened, and TK was actually there when it happened, he just couldn't remember anything about it. He listened as Patamon told him about their first meeting together in the Digital World and of how Patamon had been waiting for him for so long. He apparently was only eight at the time. He tried picturing him as the little eight year old boy that he had seen in the picture on his computer's desktop being a confused crybaby while he travelled around the Digital World. He wished he would've remembered the first time Patamon digivolved into, what was the digimon, Angemon? He pictured what he thought was the angel digimon fighting against a demon digimon, Devimon. As Patamon told him how he sacrificed his life to save him and the others, a pang of guilt went through him. He wasn't able to protect Patamon in the past, and the fact that he didn't remember it made him feel worse about it. He vowed that he would never let Patamon sacrifice his life again to protect him, even if it meant he had to give up his own life to protect Patamon. There were many other stories that Patamon told him, some humorous, others not so much. The ones he listened to the most were the ones where he shouldn't have acted the way he did. Letting Angemon sacrifice himself was one of them. Another was when he had given up on Patamon, Tokomon at the time, and partnered up with Demi-Devimon instead. How could he have yelled at Patamon when he was just trying to protect him from Demi-Devimon? Another time was when he was running away from Piedmon. All of the others, except for Kari, had stopped to try and protect the two of them. There were also countless times during the story where Tai, Matt, or one of the others would try their best to protect him, forgetting about their own safety. Sure, he was only eight years old and Patamon said that that was young for a human, but how dumb and helpless could he have been? He vowed, just as he did with Patamon, to never let anyone, or any-mon for that matter, try to protect him. From now on he was going to have to protect himself, even if what he faced was too strong for him. It was better to lose his life than to lose someone else's life.

Patamon finished telling him about their first adventure in the Digital World with when they had to leave for what they thought was forever. Patamon was really sad when it came to that part because, as he said, he thought they were never going to see each other again. But, somehow they had been able to meet up again when a digimon named Diaboromon invaded the internet of the real world and almost launched a nuclear bomb headed towards somewhere in the real world. They had been able to stop them, but TK suffered from some injury where he got a huge cut that went from his cheek to his shoulder blade. When he returned to France with the injury, apparently his mother was enraged and told him that he never would fly to Odaiba again so as to stay away from all this harmful Digital World stuff. For four years he stayed in France, and he was taken to this Dark World. Apparently he was stuck in this Dark World for a while, Patamon did not know how long exactly, and finally escaped and was in the real world. Patamon found him and took care of him, but at this point in the story TK could tell that Patamon was trying to hide something.

"Patamon, is there something you're not telling me?"

"What? No… of course…"

"Patamon?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

The digimon sighed heavily. "TK… there's no easy way to say this, but when I found you in the Digital World you told me that…. That your mother and grandparents had died."

His grandparents and his mother, _his own mother_, had died and he didn't remember it? He knew Patamon was telling the truth too. TK didn't know how much more of this story he could take. Tears flowed from his eyes as sadness overwhelmed him. He did not remember what his mother or grandparents had been like, and that was what made him sad. He had forgotten their deaths! What kind of person was he to forget such a thing?

"TK, I'm sorry."

He didn't even respond. He just simply nodded, and Patamon understood. He finished the story up until the time that they were capture by the Digimon Emperor. When Patamon was done talking, the digimon looked up into TK's eyes. He was still crying and trying to avoid his partner's eyes.

"TK, is it about your mother?"

When he didn't respond, Patamon started again,

"TK? Please talk to me TK…"

"It's… it's just frustrating. And depressing. I can't remember any of this. And I don't know if I like the person I was before I lost my memory. I was so helpless, and… uncaring… and…"

"TK, yes, when we first had our adventures in the Digital World you were young and needed to be looked out for, but that is natural. You can't do anything to change how you acted when you were still young. And although I didn't see you very much these past five years I can tell you that I'm one hundred percent positive that you were still the loving, happy, hope-filled person that I saw in you on our first adventure. And even if you weren't, I would still love you the way you were. What I'm trying to say is, you shouldn't worry about that past. What's done is done. You have a long life ahead of you, so you should focus on that."

Patamon was just trying to make him feel better, and so he faked a smile and told his partner,

"Thanks Patamon. I know what you mean. Thank you for putting together my past for me."

Patamon half-smiled at TK and he did his best to try and show that he was ok on the outside. Inside, though, sadness and frustration brewed inside of him like a hurricane. Strong winds of depression and anger never ceased to stop blowing around inside of him as he remembered all the bad things, things he could've changed, in Patamon's story. A heavy downpour continued to fall. He put a smile on the outside, but on the inside he felt terrible.

Thankfully, though, Patamon nodded and stopped looking into his eyes. He must've put on a pretty good mask. He quickly turned around, though, when he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He turned and saw an older man standing behind him.

"Excuse me, young man, but don't you wish to board the plane?"

"What?"

"The plane to Odaiba?"

"Oh, yes I do."

"Well hurry up then. They're on their last roll call and we don't want to miss the plane."

"Right."

He quickly stood up and put his bag around his shoulders. He debated putting Patamon in the bag, but he decided he'd save Patamon from the torture and carry him instead. Patamon did not move as he walked with the old man to the airport. TK had to admit, Patamon did make a pretty convincing stuffed animal when he wanted to.

They followed the woman flight attendant's directions and they walked down a long hallway. Somehow they found themselves on the plane. Many passengers, from little kids looking excitedly out the window, to teens like him who had ear-buds in their eyes with their eyes closed, to older adults who were bored while waiting for the plane to take flight. TK handed his ticket to another flight attendant who showed him to his seat which was the seat the furthest in the back that was right next to a window. TK looked behind him before sitting and saw the old man sit down in a seat towards the middle of the plane. He took his seat and set Patamon in the seat next to him that was right next to the aisleway. Luckily there was no one sitting next to him, but most of the other seats on the plane were filled.

TK sat still thinking about all that Patamon had told him, rehearsing it in his mind to make sure he wouldn't forget it again, why a beeping sound started and he saw a flashing light above him. He looked and saw a picture of a hand holding a metal buckle. Then a voice came from somewhere, most likely a speaker somewhere above him.

"Hello to all of you. This is Flight 347, Paris, France to Odaiba, Japan. If this is not your flight then please step off the plane now before it is too late."

No one stood up, so the voice continued while the plane started moving. TK looked outside and saw the runway.

"So, in case you don't know, I am your pilot today. We will be flying for about twelve hours today before landing in Odaiba. Actually, when we land it will be tomorrow because of the time difference. If my memory does not fail me, Odaiba is eight hours ahead of Paris. That means that when we land it will be seven-ish in the morning. I will do my best to make sure we have a good flight, and to help with that I am going to make sure we all fasten our seatbelts right now. We are going to be taking off soon."

Many snaps and clicks were heard as everyone fastened their seat belts. The plane turned and TK looked out. The runway was directly in front of them.

"Are we all ready for flight?"

The little children cheered out loudly and the pilot laughed.

"Alright then, hold on."

The plane instantly started accelerating. TK wished he was flying on Pegasusmon because it was much less scary. He was flying on a plane, and he had no control over whether he got to Odaiba safe or not. Once again he was helpless, trusting that the pilot could get him there safely.

The plane was shaking wildly and TK looked out the window at the wings that were shaking violently. TK felt that something was wrong, but the plane finally started rising. He watched in awe as they got farther and farther away from the ground. After five minutes they were flying above the clouds, and TK was left looking out the window along with Patamon who had moved so that he could look out the window as well. They had their mouths open a little at the fantastic sight. They were actually above the clouds. Eventually the plane stopped shaking and the pilot's voice was heard again.

"Well, it was a little rough because of the heavy winds, but we have had a safe takeoff. I will come on again to let you know when we are a quarter of the way there, halfway there, three quarters of the way there, and when we are about to land. In the meantime, you may unfasten your safety belts, but please do not leave your seats unless you wish to use the bathroom. Let's have a great flight everybody."

* * *

Time seemed to move slower when they were up in the air. It had seemed like they had been flying for forever. He had just woken up from his fifth nap and Patamon was easily on his seventh or was it eight? He no longer could look outside the window because it was dark outside. He had no idea where they were at or how much longer they had left to fly. They were more than halfway, though, because the pilot had told them that they were a long time ago.

He had some strange things to pass the time away though. He had taken a couple of maps and a compass from his house. They were heading mostly west, a little south, and they did not stray from that direction the whole time they were in the air. TK guessed where they were at. Suddenly he heard a loud boom and the plane started shaking.

Immediately the "fasten seat belt" lights flashed and TK shook Patamon.

"Huh? What? What'd I miss?"

"Something's wrong Patamon."

TK looked out the window, but he still couldn't see anything. The plane started shaking more and more violently and fear gripped him and the rest of the passengers. Flight attendants frantically ran up and down the aisle making sure everybody was in their seats. Then, the pilot's voice came on over the speakers.

"Hello again. I am afraid to say that one of our engines has blown out. We are trying to fix the problem, but we are not going to be able to stay up in the air. We have to make an emergency landing…."

Then there was another loud boom and the plane started circling. They were out of control, and somehow TK could tell that the plane was plummeting quickly. Were they going to die?

Apparently the pilot had forgotten to turn the speaker system off because he started yelling various curse words that blared out the speakers. No one even cared to cover their children's ears because everybody was frozen in terror.

"That was another engine. There is no way we are going to be able to make a safe landing. It pains me to say this, but this is the end everybody. It was nice knowing you."

Patamon looked up at me urgently and I was confused at the look of the determination on his face. Then I understood it and I immediately rejected his partner's idea.

"Patamon, no, I can't let you. You could get hurt. I don't want to… lose you again."

"Yeah, and what if I don't do anything. Then we all die! TK, we can save not only our own lives, but other people's lives as well. We have to do this!"

TK wanted to refuse. He had promised himself that he wouldn't let Patamon risk his life in order to save his. But it wasn't just his life he was saving; it was everybody's who was on that plane lives. Would he let them die just because of a silly promise he made to himself earlier that day?

He cursed himself and nodded at Patamon. Not before promising himself that this was the last time anyone/mon risked their lives to save his, did he let Patamon go.

"Once I get out there you're going to have to have me digivolve. Boom Bubble!"

Patamon broke a hole in the window and was immediately sucked out by the rushing wind. Even though the window was too small for him to be sucked out of, he could feel the immense amount of wind pulling at him. His seat belt held him in place though. Alarms blared because of the open window, but no one came up to him to question him about the window because the plane was circling and no one would be able to maneuver around it. Children screamed. He almost was lost in the moment, but he remembered that Patamon had told him to make sure he digivolved. He didn't know if it would work from such a distance, but he had to, what was it, hope, just like his first adventure in the Digital World. He had to believe that everything was going to be ok. With as much confidence as he could muster, he called out,

"Patamon, DIGIVOLVE!"

He looked out the window, but didn't see anything. Well, that was it. Any moment now they were going to hit the ground and with that, they would all die. He closed his eyes. Fear and sadness formed around him. The pilot was saying his last good byes to the passengers. Parents and children were screaming out and some were crying.

Suddenly the plane stopped circling. It was still falling, but not as fast as it had been. Gasps of shock and relief filled the plane. TK looked outside again, but he still could not see anything because of the darkness. The plane stayed this way for a couple of minutes before it landed with a loud thud on what TK figured was the ground. People trying to regain their breath was heard along with a couple others still crying in fear of their lives. TK unbuckled his seatbelt to get out of his seat, and he also put the compass and map which were on the ground into his backpack and got to his feet. As he did so, the hole in the plane where the window was enlarged as something hit it making it open wider. TK closed his eyes to make sure no rubble got into his eyes. Next thing he knew something that felt like a large hand grabbed his head and pulled him out of the airplane. He opened his eyes and he could just barely see the ground about five feet below him. He looked up and, with the light from the stars and the moon, saw that he was in the arms of… an angel. It was Angemon.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

Sorry it's taken me a while to update; I've been busy with basketball and school and, honestly, I've just been getting really worn out from everything. And yeah, I could tell that this chapter wasn't going to be all that good. I feel like this chapter isn't very good at all, but then again I've never liked my own writing. I needed to write another chapter, though, so please bare with me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and once again I'm sorry for making you all wait. Oh, by the way, thanks for the reviews and I hope you guys keep reviewing.

* * *

Chapter 25:

Matt was starting to get not only annoyed but also worried. He and his father didn't get much sleep the previous night because they were so excited about TK being back. The plane was going to be in Odaiba by seven in the morning, so, naturally, they got there at five thirty in the morning. He actually wasn't late for something.

Matt did not talk to his dad, but no words really needed to be said. They both wanted TK back so badly. Before last night, the two of them rarely saw each other, let alone talk to each other. But that was the effect that TK had on people. He could fill people up with hope without even being there.

He was caught off guard when his father cleared his throat. He looked at his dad. His dad looked like he hadn't got a good night's sleep in a week, maybe more. Matt noticed that his father had more wrinkles on his face, and his hair was even turning gray a little bit. He felt guilty for always being mad at him.

"Matt… I…. I just want to say that I'm sorry. I haven't been much of a father recently, and I know that everything has been hard on you as well. I have been just worrying about myself and trying to work away my feelings. It was wrong of me to do so. Can you forgive me?"

Was this really happening? His dad rarely apologized, but here he was. Matt hesitated because he wasn't sure if he could forgive his dad. He had put so much pressure on him and it only made things harder on him. But, as he looked into his father's eyes, he realized that despite all of that his father still loved him, and, although he was slow to admit it, he still loved his father.

"Of course, dad. But, can you forgive me as well? I haven't really made things easier for you. I never once thought about how hard all of this was on you; I only got angry at you. Can you forgive me?"

His father smiled at him and nodded. Matt smiled back, but just as they did so an airport employee dressed in a dark blue coat walked up to them.

"Can I help you guys?"

Matt watched his dad shake his head and look at the man.

"Umm, no thank you. We are just waiting for my son to fly in…"

"He's not on Flight 347: Paris to Odaiba, is he?"

Matt instantly knew something was wrong by the tone of the man's voice. What was it that he sensed, worry, concern?

"Yes, that is the plane. Is there something wrong?"

"Well, two of the plane's engines broke down and the plane was plummeting to the ground and the pilot had no control over the plane. By some miracle, though, the plane landed safely. No one was hurt. I heard that the passengers are waiting to be picked up and taken to another airport where they will be flown here, but it will take a couple of days."

The man pulled out a computerized tablet and continued,

"If you give me your name and your phone number, we will contact you when we find out more information."

Matt looked at his dad who now had his worried expression back on.

"Wait a second! You're telling me that my son's plane broke down?"

"Yes sir, but he is ok. All of the passengers survived. Like I said, it's a miracle."

"Umm… ok. My name is Hiroaki Ishida and my phone number is…"

Matt phased in and out. He had been so ready to finally see TK that this news was hard to believe. He thought it was all some sort of sick joke, but then he looked at the television and saw a breaking news report about "Plane Crash: No one injured." Matt put his hands over his face and sighed. Why couldn't life just be simple?

"Matt, I think we should get going."

"Huh? … oh, right."

He walked out of the airport with his father. They both were so confused, and the sadness that had disappeared the previous night had returned. Would they ever see TK again?

* * *

Flying through the desert without food or water sucked. It was really hard on him, and he couldn't imagine what TK was going through. The heat, the wind, the sand in the face, the hunger, the thirst. As a digimon, he was more accustomed to harsher conditions, but TK, he wasn't doing well at all. The first couple of hours he was fine, but as time went on TK looked like he was getting more and more exhausted. He wasn't saying anything at all, and, it just looked like his body was slowly dying. Pegasusmon needed to find help, but how were they going to do that in the middle of a desert?

A desert, of all places, that was where the plane had to crash. And Pegasusmon had no idea where they were at all. TK had showed him which direction to fly using what he called a compass, but he doubted that machine's correctness. It didn't seem like they were getting any closer to Odaiba.

As they were flying, he felt TK slide off of him.

"TK!"

Pegasusmon looked down and saw his partner falling, unconscious, towards the sand of the desert. To say he freaked out was an understatement. Pegasusmon quickly swooped down so that he was right above TK. He formed his golden noose and caught TK in it. With TK being safe, Pegasusmon carefully laid him down on the sand and stood next to him. Now what was he going to do? TK wasn't waking up. He was shaking badly and his mouth was partially open. The good news was that TK was alive, but the bad news was that he needed help and they were in the middle of a desert.

It didn't help that it was starting to get dark out as well. Pegasusmon looked around. "Great," he thought, "Now I don't know which way to go!"

As he looked around he was able to see something green in the distance. Grass? Had they finally made it through the desert. Hope built up in him. There had to be people somewhere close by. Maybe they could help TK.

Pegasusmon finally decided that the safest way for them to continue would be if he digivolved into Angemon. As quickly as he could he reverted back into Patamon but then digivolved into Angemon. Once finished, he scooped up his partner in his arms and flew as fast as he could towards the spot where he saw the grass.

"Hang in there TK…"

* * *

"Oh Davis…"

Kari couldn't help but laugh as Davis did a victory dance. He was sure one goofy kid, but that was why she loved him. Woah, did she just say the "L" word?

As she watched Davis, smiling, she couldn't help but wonder what she was doing. A relationship, at a time like this? Shouldn't she be more worried about finding TK? She couldn't help but feel guilty. Besides, did she really want a relationship with Davis. As she thought about this, though, she remembered last night.

Yesterday was one of the best days of her life, but she was confused about it. She, Cody, Yolei, and Davis had gone out to watch a movie. Davis had tried to impress Kari so much that night. He bought her popcorn, he sat next to her and laughed whenever she laughed during the movie even if he didn't think it was funny, and he even tried to hold her hand. When Davis made this move, Kari's first reaction was to swat his hand away, but she couldn't. Their hands, entertwined, brought up some unknown feeling inside of her. As they watched the movie, holding hands, all she could think about was how much she enjoyed having Davis's hands touching hers.

She never once came close to being in a relationship. Sure, many boys had tried, but none had ever gotten to her. That was, until she met Davis.

So many girls in the school would pay anything for Davis to be their girlfriend, but Davis ignored them all. He only had one girl in mind, her. Kari used to laugh at Davis's attempts and always told people that she found them to be annoying, but really, she enjoyed his efforts so much. No matter how much she denied it, she had feelings for Davis. The night they hung out at the movies confirmed it.

Holding hands during the movie wasn't the end of that night, though. No, it got worse, or better, Kari wasn't sure. Once the movie was done they all went and got icecream. After that, Yolei and Cody walked home. Kari said goodbye and started walking to her apartment, but Davis ran up and walked next to her. He walked her home and they talked about random stuff. Kari enjoyed having Davis there with her, and yes, they held hands. Kari was sad that Davis had to go when they reached her apartment, but she put on a smile and told him thanks for making the night a great one. She gave him a hug and told him good night, but as she was about to pull away from the embrace, Davis tilted his head and leaned in to her. She couldn't believe that she did the same, and their lips met.

Now, here she was, telling Davis yes to his asking if she wanted to go out with him. She felt so confused and ashamed, but she also felt happiness. That was something that she hadn't felt in a long time. Not many people were able to make her happy when she was afraid, scared, and worried. In fact, the last time someone had that effect on her was four years ago during the battle against Diaboromon.

They had been waiting in the hospital to see if TK was going to be alright. TK had got hurt during the battle and they all were worried sick about him. After waiting for a little less than an hour the doctor came out and let them inside. As they walked inside, she looked at TK and his sapphire eyes looked right at her mahogany's. TK had the hugest smile on his face, and all of her worries, fears, and sadness were instantly shot out and she beamed back at him, smiling as well.

TK. He was definitely a touchy subject. They had been best friends before, well, the incident against Diaboromon. She remembered all the times that they used to hang out together, all of her adventures with him in the Digital World. TK was everything to her back then, but now, he was gone. Actually, he was somewhere in the real world, but that was beside the point. The point is that she hasn't seen him for four years and had given up all hope of seeing him ever again. The past week, she had been so excited about getting TK back, but now it seemed as if he was further than ever before. Especially if the part about his memory being gone was true.

She wanted TK back, but in the meantime she was happy that Davis was here. And if she was going to try this relationship thing then she was going to do it right. She put her hands on Davis's shoulder stopping him from dancing, and then moved them to his head. She moved her head closer to his and closed her eyes. His lips met her's, and a warm feeling rushed inside of her causing her to blush. Whether it was out of enjoyment or shame, she wasn't sure.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

New chapter! More to come soon! Sorry if this chapter seems rushed but I wanted to get another one up. Please enjoy and review!

* * *

Chapter 26:

"Matt, the phone! It could be the airport calling about TK!"

Matt jumped off of the couch and ran for the phone. He snatched it up and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey Matt, it's Izzy."

Matt sighed. He was hoping it would be someone for the airport. It had been two days now since TK's plane had broken down. They should be arriving in Odaiba pretty soon by what they had heard from the airport yesterday. Because they were so anxious, he and his dad both got off work to stay home and wait for the phone call. Gabumon was there as well, but he was out cold.

"Woah, you aren't really that disappointed that it's me are you?"

"No, it's just, I thought you were someone else."

"Who? Sora?"

Matt winced at that name. Tai and she were dating, and that dashed his hopes of being together with her. He thought they were getting closer too, but Tai had to ruin that. Some best friend he was.

He acted like Izzy hadn't said anything. "So, what's up Izzy?"

"I just wanted to call you and let you know that we all are going to the Digital World after school. We are going to destroy some of the control spires and try to slow down the Digimon Emperor's progress. Are you going to be there?"

Matt looked at Gabumon who now was awake. He looked into his eyes and he could see the determination in those eyes. Gabumon wanted to go back and help fight for his world, and Matt couldn't let him go alone.

"Fine, but I may be late. We are still waiting for the airport to call, and TK is going to be back. I want to make sure he's ok."

"Ok, sounds good. If you decide not to go just let us know. I really want to see TK, but we need to start destroying those control spires before the entire Digital World is taken over."

"Right. Ok, well I'll see you later then. Maybe."

"Bye Matt."

He hung up the phone and started walking away, but the phone began ringing again. He jumped back to the phone and answered.

"Hello?"

"Is this the Ishida residence?"

"Yes it is."

"Hello. I work for the airport here in Odaiba. How are you today?"

Matt didn't have the patience for short talk. He had to cut to the chase. "Did my brother fly in?"

"Well, that's what we're calling about. You see, your brother's plane just got in…"

"Yeah…" he said excitedly.

"…but he wasn't on the plane."

"No! No he has to be on the plane!"

"We asked some of the passengers including this older man who said he talked to, I'm guessing, your brother. The man said he watched Takeru get on the plane, but after the plance crashed he said your brother just disappeared. Other passengers said they remember seeing him with some sort of orange and cream colored stuffed animal, but after the plane crashed they said they didn't see him. I'm sorry, but we have no idea where your brother is."

Matt wanted to punch somebody. His brother should be in Odaiba right now, but no. The airplane had to crash and now his brother was lost somewhere in the real world. He had no idea where he could be.

"I'm really sorry. The only good thing I can say is that we have contacted officers in Hohhot, China, the city closest to the site of the crash, and they agreed to send people out to search for your brother. I hope your brother is ok, but the plane crashed in the Gobi Desert, and if he disappeared at the crash site then that means he is in the desert somewhere. I'm sorry. Have a good day."

The man hung up and Matt put the phone down. He was shaking all over with anger. Why did so many bad things have to be happening to them. First his mother and grandparents died. Then TK disappeared and now it seems like he's gone for forever. All of this within the same two week time period.

"Matt, what's wrong?"

His father looked at him with a stern expression. He must have figured that something was wrong.

"Dad, TK wasn't on the plane."

* * *

Sora sat hand in hand with Tai as they waited for Matt to arrive at the computer lab. She loved coming here to go to the Digital World. First off, who didn't love going to the Digital World? Even with the Digimon Emperor trying to take over, it still had that 'magical' feel to it and she loved it. She also loved being back in this school; it brought back so many memories of her, Tai, Matt, Izzy, and Joe messing around during class. Well, Joe was always paying attention or taking notest or something, but Tai and Matt were always causing trouble. She and Izzy, who always found school boring because he was "too smart" for it, would watch them mock the teacher or throw paper balls at each other. She was one of those people who loved remembering the old times, even if they were only a couple of years ago.

Their first adventure seemed like it happened forever ago. They were all so young, but now they had all grown up. Tai was no longer the immature, 'always-right' leader, though sometimes she could still see the young Tai inside him. Matt had become more social and started opening up to people more. Mimi, well, she didn't know much about her since she moved to New York, but she seemed like she was still a happy-go-lucky girl while being more mature. Izzy still thought of himself as a genius, but he too, like Matt, had become more social and opened up to real people instead of his laptop. Joe was a lot more confident in himself and he was going to be really successful as a doctor someday. Kari was healthy and she was always full of light and happiness. TK.. well, she didn't want to think of him because she actually was in a good mood and didn't want sadness to develop inside.

She was extra happy about going to the Digital World today because it'd be the first time that she went in as Tai's girlfriend. Tai asked her out when they were on their little date the other day and she agreed. She wasn't sure how she was going to like it because she thought she had feelings for Matt. It didn't seem, though, that Matt was interested in her, so she decided it would be best for her if she moved on and gave Tai a chance. She was so happy she did so. She was the happiest she had been in a long time. Tai always made her laugh and he was very nice to her. She wanted to start out slow, but she could see this relationship getting serious.

Tai squeezed her hand and she looked at him. He motioned his head towards the door and Sora looked up and saw Matt walk in the computer lab. He had his head down and sat a little bit away from the rest of them. Sora watched Kari eye Matt with concern etched in her eyes, but she didn't budge out of her seat as she sat next to Davis hand-in-hand. Izzy, seeing that everybody-Tai, Matt, Sora, himself, Kari, Davis, Cody, Yolei, and all of their partners- was there, stood up and said,

"So we all know what we are doing today right? We are going to the Digital World to destroy some control spires to slow the Digimon Emperor's take over. We also need to try and find out any of his new plans, if he has any, on taking over the Digital World. Right now-"

He typed on the computer that they used to get to the Digital World and a map popped up. The Digital World was sectioned into little squares and almost all of them were black.

"-he nearly has total control of the Digital World. We can't let him control the entire Digital World. So, are we ready?"

They all nodded, stood up and got out their digivices. Tai still had his hand in hers and a big smile was on her face as Yolei screamed out.

"DIGI-PORT OPEN!"

A bright white light engulfed all of them and Sora and Tai entered the Digital World for the first time as a couple.

* * *

He could hear a beeping noise somewhere close by. He felt like he was about to throw up. He opened his eyes but was overwhelmed by white. The light wherever he was was too much for him. He shut his eyes quickly, but then opened them again slowly. His eyes still burned but they finally adjusted to the light allowing him to see again. He saw that he was lying on a bed surrounded by a white curtain. A machine was sitting next to the bed,which he guessed was the cause of the beeping noise.

It wasn't anything new, but he had no idea where he was at. The last thing he remembered was flying through some desert on Pegasusmon. Wait, Pegasusmon! Where was he? What happened to him?

He decided that he had to go find Pegasusmon so he tried to sit up, but he couldn't. He felt exhausted and his head felt light making him feel like he was about to pass out. He laid back down breathing heavily. He noticed that the machine next to his bed was attached to him somehow. There were all types of things attached to him now that he looked. And, he freaked out.

He didn't know where he was, what had happened to him, what the machines were doing to him, or where Pegasusmon was at. He pulled off all the cords and pads that were attached to him. Some hurt causing him to wince, but he finally got them all off. Then he tried sitting back up and was successful. He set his feet down on the ground and stood up. He had to grab the machine for support or else he would've passed out. As he did so he noticed a table sitting next to the bed and he saw his digivice. He grabbed it as he took more deep breaths and regained his composure. He took a step, and another one, and then he pulled back the curtain to find more beds, more people lying in those beds, and people wearing masks standing next to some of the people. No one seemed to notice him, though, so he ran out of the room. He walked by a window and noticed that he wasn't on the ground level. He needed to find stairs or something. He stopped and looked around, and nearly jumped when he heard a beeping noise. A high pitched voice popped up saying,

"Hey mister, are you looking for the elevator?"

"Umm…." He looked and saw a little girl probably no more than seven years old standing next to an adult who was looking at him with a confused expresson on his face. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was wearing what looked like a white bath sheet. He had a pair of socks on, but no shoes. He blushed out of embarrassment at the ridiculous outfit he was in.

"Well, you better hurry. The door is going to close soon."

He jumped into the, elevator was it?, and he looked back at the hallway he had left and saw a door close. Finally it came back to him. He was in a hospital. What for, he didn't know, but he had been in one before. This elevator was a way to get from one floor to another.

The little girl looked up at him smiling and he couldn't help but smile back despite how terrible he felt at the moment. The girl seemed to fill him up with happiness and… light, and for some reason this feeling felt familiar. He was taken out of his thoughts as another *ding* sounded and the door to the elevator opened.

"See you later!" he called out to the girl as he ran out of the elevator. Surely once they realized that he had left his room the workers at the hospital would chase him, so he had to get out of here quick. He quickly found the exit and pushed the doors open. He found that he was in a big city with tall buildings all over. This place, though, did not look familiar at all. Strange symbols were posted all over and he couldn't understand one word any of the people walking the sidewalks were saying. He kept looking around the city when he heard a voice that he actually understood and remembered.

"TK!"  
He turned quickly and caught the blur of orange flying right at him. It was Patamon; he was alright. He instantly forgot about how terrible, sick, and scared he felt as he hugged his partner close.

"You've been in there for forver! How are you, and what are you wearing?" his partner said with a laugh.

TK laughed as well, "I don't know what this is, but I want to change out of it right now, I'll tell you that."

Just then Patamon disappeared but then reappeared in his arms. A worried expression was on his partner's face.

"Patamon? What was that?"

"I… I need to get to the Digital World. Like right now!"

TK was confused, but he didn't want to question his partner. First off, he could tell that whatever was wrong was very serious. Secondly, he wanted to get out of this place, wherever 'this place' was.

"Well, let's find a computer then."

"I found one while you were sick. Come on, we need to hurry."

Patamon flew off at a highspeed and TK ran as fast as he could to follow. His vision got blurry and he felt like he was going to pass out, but he needed to keep going and be strong. Patamon was still fading in and out and the times where he disappeared was getting longer. His partner was ranting about a place called Primary Village and "If we don't make it…" but he didn't hear half of it. He was too focused on not passing out to pay much attention. Finally, they ran into a random building and TK pushed the doors open. There were people and computers everywhere all who didn't pay them any attention. Patamon flew to an open computer and TK pulled out his digivice.

"Digi-port open!"

* * *

He lay in his bed thinking about all that he had done the past couple of days. In five days he had been able to build control spires in all of the areas of the Digital World that he knew about that is. He felt like there was much more to the Digital World than what he knew about. For example, he remembered the time a week and a half ago when his radar had gone off, but on his map there was no sign of anyone. His technology was never wrong, there was no way it could because he was perfect. There also was the incident with Devimon. Where did Devimon come from? He clearly was a strong, evil digimon, but he hadn't found any digimon like that in the Digital World. He had to have come from somewhere, possibly the same place that his radar wasn't able to detect. Where that was, though, he had no idea.

The digidestined had destroyed some of the control spires in the areas, but he was able to rebuild the spires easily. He noticed that the blonde digidestined, TK, was that his name? , wasn't with them. 'Good,' he thought, 'that gets rid of one digidestined easily.' The other digidestineds, although annoying, didn't pose much of a threat. Sure, they had managed to find a way to digivolve to their champion levels somehow, but if that was the best they could do then there was no way they stood a chance against his forces. The digidestineds were no longer a threat to him. He would be able to destroy them any time he wanted to. At the moment, he didn't want to get rid of them. He enjoyed watching their futile attempts at trying to destroy his control spires, thinking that they had a chance against him.

Then Wormon came to mind. Whether that digimon was alive or not didn't matter to him. He hated that pathetic digimon with all of his heart. He had made things a lot harder on him, what, with setting TK and his Patamon free. They would've been such loyal pawns too. However mad he got at Wormon, though, he missed having a digimon around. Wormon was his partner, key word being was, and he missed having a digimon that he could share that bond with. He had the idea that he would create a digimon, a new partner. This digimon, though, couldn't be weak and pathetic like Wormon had been. This digimon had to be stronger than all of the digimon that he already had under his control. If that weren't the case then he would just make one of the digimon he already owned his new partner. No, this new digimon had to be the best. And how do you make the best digimon? You take the best parts of some of the strongest digimon out there and combine them. This digimon wouldn't have a weakness; he would be unstoppable. Much better than Wormon.

As he thought on these things his tiredness from all the work that he had done the past couple of days got to him. Without even realizing it his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

To say he was infuriated was an understatement. He had let the child of Hope save the child of Light, right when his plan was going perfectly. What was wrong with the hope child and his digimon, though, he did not know. Something had changed them, but to him it didn't matter. All he knew is that he wanted that boy and his digimon dead. He no longer cared about light. He had been able to take her and he nearly destroyed her without even breaking a sweat. He had underestimated hope, though.

The only thing he had on his side was the element of surprise, but that may be all that he needed. Light and hope both thought that he, Dragomon, was dead. He laughed at that idea. Sure, the hope digimon was strong, but he was just caught off guard, that's all. When he attacked, they would be the ones who were caught off guard. And he wouldn't have any mercy in dealing with hope either. He was going to find him, and then destroy him.

He did not know where hope was, but he did know that he was either in the real world or the Digital World. The Digimon Emperor, or whatever that pathetic human was called, was dealing with the Digital World, so he would then have to take care of the real world. And he had the perfect idea on how to do that.

He walked out of his throne room located in his castle at the bottom of the Dark Ocean. He walked into the chamber where his servants, a mixture of slimy, dark spirits and Scubamon. An evil smile was smeared on his face as he saw the fear in his servant's eyes. Yes, they would be perfect.

His purple pearl necklace started glowing and he felt power rise up in him. He pointed his trident at a group of evil spirits that had retreated back into a corner shaking in fear. A purple beam of light shot at them and they were engulfed in the light. When the light died down, eight new digimon stood before him. Five Vilemon and three Fugamon were staring up at him, awaiting orders.

"Go to the human's world and bring me the child of hope! Go!"

They exited the castle and flew off, or swam off, he didn't know which exactly it was. He knew that those digimon wouldn't stand a chance against the hope child or the light child, but they could cause some damage, and, more importantly, they would let them know that Dragomon, ruler of the Dark World and soon all worlds, was still alive and well and wanting the hope child dead.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

So, this chapter is another short chapter. I promise that the next one will be longer, more eventful, and better written. I think I'm at the part now where a lot more action and excitement is going to take place so bare with me. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up in a couple of days or so, but if I don't I apologize. Anyways, thank you for all the reviews and I hope you guys will keep on reviewing. Hope you enjoy this chapter and keep liking this story!

* * *

Chapter 27:

He didn't know why, but it felt a lot better to be in the Digital World than in the real world. True, he had only been in either of the world for a little amount of time, at least from what he could remember, but he felt like he belonged in the Digital World. The whole time he was in the real world he had felt a sense of… awkwardness. In the Digital World, though, he felt natural. He couldn't explain why he felt this way, he just did.

He looked around trying to gain a sense of where he was at exactly. As he looked around he felt a strong sense of familiarity. He definitely had been here before. Tall towers of colorful blocks were stacked upon each other. The sun cast many glares at him as they reflected off of… were those eggs? Off in the distance a group of red balls were jumping up and down, but as they came closer and he heard the laughter he realized that they were digimon. He looked at Patamon hoping he'd explain, but the digimon was just staring around with a huge smile on his face.

"TK! This is Primary Village!"

"Primary Village?"

"Oh, sorry. I _forgot_ that you lost your memory."

TK couldn't help but smile at the joke, although he found it kind of mean.

"Primary Village is where digimon are reborn."

Primary Village? Where digimon are reborn? He felt some of his memory coming back to him.

"Because digimon never really die right? They just get reset or something and so this is where they are reborn?"

"Yes! Exactly!"

"And this is where we met Elecmon when Devimon had us all separated right?" he asked remembering the story Patamon told him about their first adventure to the Digital World.

"Right!"

Patamon flew off to where there were more eggs and TK took a step to follow, but his feet weren't on stable ground. His feet went into the ground, and instantly he smiled. He bent his legs and took a leap outwards. As he landed on the soft ground he bounced back up flying high into the air. Wind blew across his face and a rush of excitement went through him as he tried to catch up with Patamon. Suddenly, Patamon stopped right in front of him and he couldn't stop himself in time. He ran right into his partner and they went flying through the air. They hit the bungee ground and bounced straight up. TK bust out in laughter and Patamon did as well until they finally came to a stop.

Then Patamon stopped laughing and started staring off into the distance with a worried look on his face.

"Patamon, what's the…?"

He followed his partner's gaze until his eyes landed on a huge, black skyscraper. He didn't know what it was, but he did know that it did not belong there. As they sat there staring TK realized that the baby digimon's laughter had stopped and everything was silent. The sun disappeared behind a cloud causing all the happiness and joy that Primary Village had brought him to disappear, and there was a chill in the air.

"TK, we need to get out of here…. Like right no…"

He didn't catch the last part because Patamon had tackled him. A blur of blue light flew right by where they were sitting and although they had dodged the attack he could still feel the freezing air that was caused by the light. TK quickly got to his feet and looked around and saw what looked like a blue man walking slowly up to them. Like he said before, he didn't know much, but he knew that this guy meant trouble.

"I have to digivolve!"

"Right, Patamon digivolve!"

Patamon immediately started glowing and changed forms. TK watched as Patamon digivolved into Pegasusmon. Once the digivolution was done, Pegasusmon motioned for TK to get on and he immediately got on his digimon. Pegausmon quickly flew off while dodging another attack.

"Who is that Pegasusmon?"

"It's BlueMeramon. He's like Meramon except stronger and uses freezing cold flames instead of burning hot ones."

TK was about to tell Pegasusmon that he didn't know who Meramon was, but he had to hold on for dear life as Pegasusmon swerved to dodge another attack.

"Star Shower!"

Pegasusmon flew towards BlueMeramon and gave his wings a strong flap causing ten or more stars to fly at BlueMeramon. The digimon did not even budge and the attack hit dead on.

"Nice hit Pegasusmon!"

He watched waiting for the attack to clear up, and as it did he saw BlueMeramon standing there unharmed with an angry look on his face. He leapt up in the air towards him. BlueMeramon drew his arm back. Pegasusmon flew out of the way dodging the punch, but he didn't have time to dodge the blast of blue flame that BlueMeramon shot right at them. Pegasusmon was hit dead on. TK could feel Pegasusmon become freezing cold as they started falling to the ground. TK flew off Pegasusmon and they both hit the, luckily soft, ground hard. Pain from his fall caused his vision to blur, but he shook his head and stood up trying to regain his composure. He looked at Pegasusmon, but he was now Patamon. The BlueMeramon was laughing as they walked closer to them. TK ran to his partner and picked him up in his arms as he watched the digimon near him. He closed his eyes and hugged his partner as BlueMeramon sent another blast of freezing flames right at them.

* * *

They all were sitting in the computer lab, tired from their trip to the Digital World. Tai was angrily talking about how they had to stop the Digimon Emperor and that they should go after him instead of worrying about the control spires. Sora, Davis, Yolei, and Cody were arguing with Tai. Well, Davis of course agreed with Tai because he was his 'idol.' Izzy was typing on the computer, probably e-mailing Joe and Mimi and letting them know what was happening in the Digital World. Their digimon partners were sitting in a circle having their own discussion except for Gabumon. She couldn't stand to be a part of the argument so she went and sat next to Matt who was sitting by himself, well except for Gabumon, looking at the ground.

"Hey Matt."

He didn't even look up or acknowledge her as she sat next to him. He continued to stare at the ground.

"What's wrong Matt?" And then she remembered. TK was supposed to have flown in today! "Oh, how's TK? Did he really lose his memory? We should go see him!"

Kari stood up but Matt grabbed her arm and forced her back into her seat. She figured that this meant that TK was not alright.

"Kari… TK didn't fly back today."

"Wait, what?! I thought you said he was…"

"He was supposed to have flown in today, but he wasn't on the plane. After the plane crashed he... disappeared. And the plane crash was in the middle of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia! Do you know how far away that is? And a desert of all places! I don't know if he's ok. They told me that there were people searching for him, but we haven't heard back from them yet. What if he's not ok? What if I never get to see my brother again?"

By now Matt had his hands in his hair and he seemed like he was on the verge of tears. Kari wanted to offer help, but she didn't know what to say. She felt terrible that she had forgotten about TK.

"And now, what if I lose him? What kind of older brother am I? How could I…"

"What do you think Matt?! Should we waste our time destroying control spires just for them to be rebuilt or…. Matt?"

Tai looked at Matt who was crying now. Matt looked up in anger at Tai and stormed out of the computer lab. Tai watched Matt rush out of the computer lab with a confused look on his face.

"Matt, wait up!" Gabumon called out as he rushed after his partner.

"What's wrong with him? Doesn't he realize we have a dire situation going on?"

Anger built up inside her and she replied,

"Tai, today was the day TK was supposed to fly home. He wasn't on the plane, though. He doesn't know where TK is…"

Tai's face immediately turned red with guilt as well as Izzy's and Sora's. Had they all really forgot about TK? What kind of friends were they? Kari decided that from that moment on she wasn't going to forget about Matt or TK anymore. She was going to make it her duty to make sure she was a good friend to Matt and to make sure that he and the rest of them got TK back.

"Oh…"

"I guess we all forgot," Sora added.

"I even talked to him earlier today about it. How could I forget such a thing in such a short amount of time?" Izzy asked.

"If it makes you feel better I forgot about this TJ character too, but that's just because I forget just about everything," Davis said with a smile.

Kari sent him a death glare and he instantly blushed and looked the other way. There was a time and place for joking around, but this definitely was not the time for a stupid joke, even if it was made by her boyfriend.

"Is Matt ok?" Tai asked her.

"What do you think Tai? Imagine if I disappeared for four years and then was supposed to fly back today but I wasn't on the plane. I'm sure you wouldn't be all happy-go-lucky."

Tai held back a retort as he realized that she was definitely not in a good mood. Anger continued to build up inside of her which wasn't like her, but she couldn't help it. She was so mad at herself for forgetting about TK, her once was best friend. She also was mad at Tai and the other older digidestineds for forgetting about and not worrying about Matt. He was under so much stress right now and none of them had helped him. They were being such bad friends, and she felt terrible because of it.

"Well, it seems like we've all had a rough night and that it would be best if we all called it a night before someone does or says something they will regret later," Cody said. Kari was impressed by the little boy's words. For only being in the fourth grade, he was pretty wise.

"I have to agree with Cody. I'm tired and I'm sure the rest of us are as well. Let's all go home and we can figure out what we will do tomorrow," Izzy nodded in agreement.

They all consented and walked out of the computer lab with their partners. Once they were out of the school they said their goodbyes and went different ways so as to go home. Kari walked next to Tai and Davis and held Davis's hand, but none of them spoke, except for their partners who were walking ahead of them. Hey, it was night time out now, who was going to realize a talking cat, blue dinosaur, and orange dinosaur? She still was in a bad mood and she could still feel the tension in the air caused by their recent argument. Once they reached her apartment complex she stormed off inside without even telling Davis goodbye. Gatomon trailed her and called out for her to slow down, but she didn't. She climbed up the stairs and entered her apartment. She walked to the kitchen and drank a glass of water before going into her room and shutting the door. Gatomon was already inside sitting on her bed. Kari sat next to her partner who crawled into her lap and asked,

"Kari, what's got you all fired up?"

Kari took a deep sigh and replied, "Gatomon, I've been a bad friend recently."


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Here's Chapter 28! I can't believe how far this story has come along. 28 chapters and 143 reviews?! I am so happy about this story!

Oh, and I feel the need to address something. I am not a Daikari fan by any means! I believe in Takari all the way, but the whole Daikari thing really seems to fit well into this story. I hate writing Daikari, but it is what it is. This story probably will be a Daikari, but if I decide to make a sequel to this story I will probably make the sequel into a Takari. So, to you Takari fans out there, I'm sharing your pain, just please try to bare with me through this story.

Anyways, this is a very very important chapter! Let me know what you think about the plot and how you are liking this story. Thank you for all of the reviews. 143 is so many more reviews than I ever expected ( and nearly all of them are positive reviews! :D ) so I thank all of you reviewers. I hope you all continue to review because I do read every review and they really do mean a lot to me. Ok, my rant of an author's note is over. Enjoy this chapter and please review! - (please try to ignore any grammar or misspellings since I haven't edited/read over it yet... thanks!)-

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Chapter 28:

She was having one of the best nights of sleep that she had had in a long time, but then it was ruined as the door to her room flew open and Tai rushed into her room. She groaned and while she sat up and rubbed her eyes she started complaining,

"Tai! It's seven in the morning on Saturday! Let me sleep…"

"Kari, get up now!" Tai said in a very worried voice. That was unusual for Tai, he never let others know how worried he was. Something had to be wrong, very wrong.

"What is it Tai?" Gatomon asked.

"Digimon, in Odaiba."

"WHAT?!" Kari exclaimed. She hurriedly threw a shirt and a pair of shorts on and walked out of her room with Gatomon. Tai was already dressed and was putting a pair of shoes on. Agumon was standing by the television watching what appeared to be a breaking news story.

"Look at the news."

Kari walked over to Agumon and watched the television. She read the headline,

"Another Monster Attack in Odaiba!"

They were showing a building that Kari recogned; it was the school. The building had smoke coming out of it though, and as she continued to watch she saw someone holding a club walk up to the school. It looked like Ogremon except he was brown instead of green. She saw two more Ogremon-look-a-likes walk up to the building. Hovering in the air sending blasts of energy at the school were five Vilemon. She recognized the Vilemon from the battle against Piedmon. They were able to beat the digimon easily, but their digimon had been ultimates and some megas at the time.

"Kari, let's go. The others are going to meet us there."

"Right," she said as she hurried over and threw on a pair of tennis shoes. Tai held the door open for her and she ran out of the apartment. He followed her and together they and their partners ran for the school.

"How did they get her Tai?"

"I don't know Kari, but hopefully we'll find some answers."

They didn't talk the rest of the way because they were too focused on making sure they didn't run into anyone on the crowded sidewalks. If it was any other day, she would've enjoyed the morning. It was cool, the city was quiet, and she had Gatomon with her. This wasn't any other morning, though.

They finally reached the school and they stopped running as they regained their breath. Izzy, Sora, and Davis were already there, anxiously waiting for everyone else to get there.

"Tai, what are we going to do about these digimon?" Davis asked as he walked up to her and she hugged him in greeting.

"I… I don't know," he managed in-between pants, "Do we know how they got here?"

"No, it doesn't make any sense. They don't have a dark spiral on them so they are not working for the Digimon Emperor," Izzy said obviously disturbed about the occurrence. She, as well as everyone else, knew that he hated when he didn't understand something.

"Well, we need to destroy them…"

"NO!" She couldn't help herself. They couldn't just destroy digimon like that. It didn't seem… right.

"Why not Kari? They obviously are not themselves. Would you rather let them destroy the school, and maybe even all of Odaiba?"

"Well, whatever we decide we need to do it soon. More of the media is coming, and we don't need our government to find out about digimon. That would be bad," Sora stated.

Yolei, Cody, Matt, and, to Kari's surprise, Joe, along with their partners, ran up to them with tired, confused looks on their faces.

"What's going on?" Joe asked.

"Digimon attacking the school. We need to stop them," she said simply.

"Oh," Joe looked at the school and watched the Fugamon and Vilemon attack the school.

"Actually, I think I know a way we can get rid of them without having to destroy them!" Izzy exclaimed as he pulled out his laptop.

"Well tell us then!" Tai said.

"I've been working on it and I think I finally got it to work. It was very hard to do. Lots of confusing formulas and algaroithms and I didn' think it was going to work but…"

"IZZY!" Sora yelled.

"Oh, sorry, as I was saying, I think I can open a portal to the Digital World on my computer. Then, using the portal we can send the digimon back to the Digital World."

"Sounds like a plan! Let's go Agumon! Digivolve!"

"Wait…" Izzy tried, but he was too late. Agumon had already digivolved and was rushing after the digimon with Tai following. Izzy sighed and took out his digivice.

"Go help him Tentomon."

"You too Biyomon."

"Veemon!"

"Hawkmon!"

"Gomamon!"

"Gabumon!"

"Gatomon!"

"Armadillomon!"

"DIGIVOLVE!"

All of their partners started glowing as they digivolved into their champion level, or armor level for Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, and Gatomon. All eight of their digimon rushed into the battle to help Greymon who was battling three Vilemon with Tai close by yelling out pieces of encouragement.

"Kari! I need you to stay by me to open the portal when it is time."

She nodded and ran next to Izzy who was typing frantically on his computer. She heard the familiar sound of the portal popping up and she pulled out her digivice, ready to open the portal at any moment.

She realized that as she got closer to the enemy digimon they would look up at her with a malicious look in their eyes before turning to attack one of their digimon. One of the Fugamon was blasted by one of Garurumon's attacks and landed next to her. The digimon looked right at her and said,

"Child of light, where is the child of hope! Tell us now, and we will stop this."

Child of hope? TK? These digimon were after TK?

"Kari! Open the portal!"

She turned away from Fugamon's glare and saw Izzy standing right behind the Fugamon. She understood and yelled,

"DIGI-PORT OPEN!"

She pointed her digivice at the portal and she watched as a bright white light engulfed the Fugamon who roared in anger as he was sucked into the laptop.

"Don't think you have won, Light! We will find Hope and we will destroy him!"

Then the Fugamon was gone, now back in the Digital World somewhere. She started on thinking on what the digimon had said, but Izzy started dragging her towards another Fugamon who was lying on the ground. They sent that digimon back to the Digital World, along with the other Fugamon and the five Vilemon. At the end of it all she was tired.

Then they heard police sirens and the sound of a helicopter flying up above. Soldiers and police officers started running after them trying to surround them.

"Guys, we have to get out of here!" Yolei screamed.

"Quick, let's go!" Tai exclaimed.

Nefertimon landed next to her and she climbed onto her digimon.

"Tai! Get on!"

Tai ran over as Greymon dedigivolved back into Agumon. She and Tai helped Agumon on and Tai finally boarded and Nefertimon took flight. Flying next to them was Kabuterimon who had Joe, Gomamon, Cody, Armadillomon, and Izzy. Halsemon carried Yolei, Davis, and Veemon; and Birdramon had Sora, Matt, and Gabumon. The four flying digimon flew off in a hurry. Luckily, the helicopter was not chasing them because it was flying above the school, probably looking for the Fugamon and Vilemon who had been destroying the school. As she looked behind her she realized that the school was burning and then went crumbling down. She couldn't help it, a tear escaped her eyes. As much as she hated school, she felt terrible that it was burning down. So many good memories had happened there, and now it was going to be like they hadn't even happened.

Firetrucks and ambulances rushed to the school and they tried to put out the flames, but it was no good. The school was already ruined. Kari turned away, not wanting to look at the sight anymore.

They kept on flying through the city. She looked down and saw many worried looks from the people down below. She couldn't blame them; if she didn't know about digimon she would be pretty scared of four huge, flying monsters too. Finally, they reached the huge park that was filled with trees all over. The four digimon descended into the trees for cover. Once they were on the ground, she got off Nefertimon and helped Tai and Agumon off. Nefertimon dedigivolved back into Gatomon. The others did the same, and they all walked up to each other. Davis stood next to her with his hand intertwined with hers. Tai and Sora did the same thing.

"How are you doing?" he asked quietly as Izzy, Joe, Yolei, and Tai started talking about all that was going on. As they did so, she couldn't get her mind off of what the Fugamon had told her before going to the Digital World, "We will find hope, and we will destroy him." TK, wherever he was, was in trouble, and he needed help.

"I'm fine, but I don't think TK is."

* * *

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was how cold he was. He felt like he had just thawed out of a piece of ice. He groaned in pain as he tried to sit up. His muscles were very stiff making them much more difficult to move than they shouldn't have been. He sat up and opened his eyes.

He was in a room that looked familiar to him. He figured that he had been here before he had lost his memory. He was very tired of this whole not being able to remember anything. As he looked around he saw a man who looked about ten years older than him sitting down at a low table. The man had long, brown hair that was tied in a ponytail. He examined the rest of the room, and then he gasped. Lying on a pillow, unconscious, was Tokomon.

"Tokomon!"

He got up to his feet, but he instantly felt light-headed. He luckily didn't pass out, but he was cautious as he took his next step.

"Oh, you're awake."

The man turned and looked at him and smiled. He tried to figure out who this guy was, but nothing came to his mind. The last thing he remembered before going unconscious was getting hit by BlueMeramon's attack. Wait, BlueMeramon. The man must have saw the panic that appeared in his eyes because he said,

"Don't worry. I took care of that digimon."

"You? How did you…?"

"I have a name you know?"

"I… I'm sorry but I don't think I know you."

The man's eyes opened wide in surprise, but then he laughed and said, "Oh, that's right. The last time you saw me I appeared to be a very old man. Now do you remember?"

"Sorry, no."

"But you're Takeru Takaishi, aren't you?"

"Yes… but…"

"It's me, Gennai."

TK shook his head and Gennai scratched his chin. TK really hated not having his memory back. It sucked, you know?

"Hmmm, well then, take a seat. We have a lot to talk about."

TK sat next to Gennai at the table. He looked at the table and saw a ton of food. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and some things that TK wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were crowded the table. His stomach growled loudly and he blushed, embarrassed.

"Go on! Eat as much as you want."

As he was about to dive into the food his eyes caught Tokomon who was still unconscious. He refrained himself from eating and asked,

"Is Tokomon going to be ok?"

"He's going to be fine. Now, eat!"

TK obeyed and practically inhaled his food as he scooped it onto his plate. Luckily there was a glass of milk too because he probably would have choked on his food if he didn't get a drink. The whole time Gennai looked at him with a stern look on his face, as if trying to find if there was something that was wrong with him. TK finally finished his food and finished off his milk. He felt a lot better, and warmer, now that he had food inside of him. Satisfied, he said,

"Thank you for the food!"

"It is no problem at all. I'm glad to help."

Gennai continued to study him, and TK started feeling… awkward, like he was a specimen under a microscope.

"Umm…. So, what happened exactly?"

"You and Patamon were attacked by a BlueMeramon. He was about to destroy you both when I found you."

"How did you defeat BlueMeramon? Do you have a digimon partner?"

Gennai laughed at this, "No, I don't have a digimon partner like Patamon. I have my own... ah, _ways_ of handling digimon."

TK was confused by Gennai's words, but he ignored his concerns. Gennai had saved him and Patamon after all, so he must be able to be trusted.

"Well, thank you for saving us."

"It was nothing. TK, can you tell me how you lost your memory?"

TK sighed, but he did as Gennai asked. He told him about how he woke up in the Digimon Emperor's fortress where he found out that he had been under the Emperor's control. Wormon, though, had helped him and Patamon escape. Gennai nodded as he told his story. When he was finished, Gennai asked what happened next. TK continued his story by telling Gennai how he and Patamon had went to the real world. They had landed in France and decided that they needed to get to Odaiba. He left out the part about his mother and grandparents dying. Gennai didn't need to know that. He did tell him, though, how they had boarded an airplane, but it had broken down in the middle of a desert. Then, he and Patamon flew through the desert trying to find any type of civilization, but he had gotten sick and dehydrated in the desert. Patamon had found a hospital and TK was taken care of. It had been two days before TK left the hospital, and once he found Patamon they went to the Digital World. He finished his story there.

"TK? Is that you?"

TK looked over at Tokomon who had his eyes opened and was slowly trying to stand up.

"Tokomon!"

TK got up and ran for his partner. He dropped to his knees and picked up and hugged his partner. He smiled, relieved that Tokomon was ok and was finally awake.

"I'm so happy you're ok! How do you feel?"

"I'm quite cold, but other than that I'm fine!"

TK hugged Tokomon closer, trying to warm him up, as he walked back to his spot at the table. Tokomon looked up at Gennai and asked,

"Gennai? Is that you?"

"Yes it is Tokomon!"

"Boy you sure look a lot different! In a good way though!"

Gennai smiled. "Why thank you. I'm flattered."

Silence followed. TK held Tokomon close while Gennai started inspecting TK again. TK was really starting to get annoyed by the way Gennai looked at him, but he tried to hide his feelings.

"Is there any way I can get my memory back, Gennai?"

Gennai sighed and stood up. He walked away with his back turned away from him and Tokomon. TK waited for Gennai to answer, and while he did he looked outside one of the windows in the room. He was thrown off guard as a fish swam by the window. He was going to ask Gennai about it, but Gennai spoke up.

"Yes, I can help you get your memory back, but it will cost you. You see, I possess this digi- core,"

Gennai turned and when he did he was holding a blue sphere in his hands. TK could feel the power emanating from the sphere. Whatever it was, it was very powerful.

"This digi-core came from one of the Digimon Sovereigns, Azulongmon to be specific. This digi-core is very powerful. I could give it to you, and it will restore your memory. It also will allow Patamon to be able to digivolve to ultimate form again."

"That sounds great. Let's do it…"

"But here's the catch. I can give you this digi-core, but if you decide to take it then you have to stay in the Digital World."

"That doesn't sound too…"

"I mean for forever. This digi-core will give both of you much more strength. You will be able to fight digimon on your own TK. You will be stronger, quicker, and wiser. And Patamon, you will be much stronger as well as being able to digivolve into ultimate again. In return, though, you have to stay and protect the Digital World for forever. The Digital World's enemies are getting stronger and stronger. Dragomon is still alive and gaining power. The Digimon Emperor is extending his 'empire' to include just about the entire Digital World. The Sovereigns are getting weaker and weaker as they get older, and they need someone else to step up and protect the Digital World. You two would take that place. Are you willing to give up everything that you had? I know you don't remember it TK, but you have friends and family. Do you want to give up having the chance of ever getting to know these people, including your brother and your father, just to get your memory back?"

TK bit his lip. Gennai had given him a lot to think about. He really did want his memory back, it was probably what he wanted most. But if he got his memory back he wouldn't be able to ever go back to the real world again. He would be stuck in the Digital World protecting it from villains like the Digimon Emperor, but he also was curious about what kind of 'powers' he would get if he decided to use the digi-core.

And he wasn't the only one who was going to be affected by all of this. How would Patamon feel about having the fate of the Digital World resting upon his shoulders all of the time? How would Matt and his father feel about TK never being able to go to the real world? What about the other digidestineds, Kari? What would they want him to decide?

His head started hurting by all of his thoughts. He looked at Gennai who seemed to understand.

"It's a very big decision the two of you will have to make. I will give you time to think about my offer, but realize that every moment you spend thinking about this is a moment that your friends have to go against not only the Emperor but Dragomon's minions."

With that Gennai walked out of the room leaving him and Tokomon alone. Tokomon jumped from his arms onto the table and faced him.

"What are you thinking TK?"

He didn't know what he was thinking. All he could think to say was "Woah…"


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

So, the big decision is here. Nothing much more needs to be said than that. This story is getting to be so long! Anyways, special thank you to all of the reviewers! I hope you enjoy this chapter and that you let me know what you think in a review! ^^

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Chapter 29:

It was a dreary day in Odaiba. Rain was pouring down, it was cold, and everyone was in a really bad mood. Kari had tried her best to stay positive, but it was hard. As if the three Fugamon and five Vilemon weren't enough for one day, more and more digimon kept coming to the real world. Once they landed in the forest, they had heard two different explosions and decided that they would have to split up. Tai, Joe, Sora, Yolei, and Cody went one way while Matt, Izzy, herself, and Davis went the other way. She didn't see much good coming from this day. The only thing good about the day was that they were so busy that it seemed to keep Matt's mind off of TK. He at least seemed to be back to normal.

The thing that disturbed her the most about the day wasn't the rain, or their short tempers, or even battling the digimon. What really was getting at her was what the digimon said to her before being sent back to the Digital World. They all said the same thing, "We will find Hope, and we will kill him." Apparently the digimon thought that TK was in Odaiba; that or there were digimon attacks all over the world. She couldn't help but worry about TK. She had no idea where he was; well, the last she heard he was in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. She had to say that she didn't even know where that was exactly, but it sure sounded dangerous and a long ways away. He could even be dead by now. No, she couldn't afford herself to think like that.

They all were getting tired. They had an early start to the day, and now it was past lunch time. She was hungry and tired, but at least she had Davis. He unlike the rest didn't seem to be affected by the digimon attacks. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying all of this action. He ran from one digimon attack to another without losing his excitement. She couldn't help but lighten up when she was around him.

Matt had a determined face as they ran to another digimon attack. As they ran through crowds of people trying to run away from the digimon, he plowed through them, his eyes showing that he was on a mission. Maybe he thought he'd find TK doing all of this, or maybe he thought he was protecting TK by doing this. Izzy, on the other hand, was just like her. The two of them weren't really the most, how you say, athletic of all people. All of this running around was having its toll on them, and she didn't know how much more of this they could handle. It didn't seem like the attacks were going to stop anytime soon.

They neared the battle and Kari tried to find Nefertimon. She found her partner battling, oh not again, she was battling another Fugamon.

"Nice to see you again. Have you decided to tell us where your Hope is yet?"

It was the same Fugamon as before. She didn't understand how that was possible; they had sent the digimon back to the Digital World. If they were able to come back to the real world after being sent to the Digital World, then that meant that all that they had done could've been done for nothing.

"KARI!"

Izzy's voice shook her from her thoughts. She, out of instinct now that she had done it the whole morning, raised her digivice to Izzy's computer.

"Digi-port open!"

A bright white light surrounded the Fugamon as Nefertimon blasted the digimon towards the laptop. He was sent back to the Digital World and Izzy shut his laptop before running off to the other digimon who were attacking random buildings. Garurumon and Flamedramon were battling a Tuskmon while Kabuterimon and Nefertimon faced off against a Thundermon.

"Izzy! Over here!"

Izzy looked over towards Matt and Davis and saw that Tuskmon was on the ground, Garurumon and Flamedramon holding the digimon down. Kari followed Izzy as they ran for them. Izzy opened his laptop and Kari yelled her catch phrase. They finally got over there and Tuskmon was sucked into the laptop. Thundermon was launched at the side of a building. Izzy ran over and Thundermon went back to the Digital World as well. Kari breathed a sigh of relief, but then groaned as she heard another explosion and saw Matt and Davis running towards it. This day didn't seem like it was ever going to end.

* * *

Gennai's place was… mind boggling. At times he thought he was underwater. He could see big walls of water surrounding him. There also was this occasional fish that swam by him. Other times, though, he couldn't see the water surrounding him and there wasn't a fish to be seen. In fact, there was even a little bridge that went over a small stream of water. And then there was the stairs that led up to who knows where. This place was… different, but he enjoyed being here.

He would have enjoyed it more if he didn't have to make such a huge, life-changing decision. There positives and negatives to both choices, whether he used the digi-core or not. If he used the digi-core then Patamon would become stronger. He would be able to digivolve into ultimate, which Patamon had explained was the level after champion level, Angemon. Not only would Patamon get stronger, but he as well would get stronger somehow. Gennai had said that he would "be able to fight digimon" on his own, and he would be "stronger, quicker, and wiser." That sounded pretty good to him, and along with that he would be able to get his memories back.

That was what intrigued him the most out of all of the positives of taking the digi-core. Things were starting to come back to him, but it was very slowly. TK was starting to remember what his friends' names were, and he could remember some parts of his old adventure. His memories were not coming back nearly as fast enough as he liked, though. Of course the thought of getting them all back intrigued him. Being without memories reminded him of the feeling one gets from trying to remember a dream when first waking up. It felt like he had just woken up from a dream he couldn't remember anything. He was twelve years old and he couldn't remember anything of his life.

The only thing holding him back from taking the digi-core was that he would be stuck in the Digital World for forever. He liked that thought because when he was in the Digital World with Patamon he felt like he belonged. He didn't have that feeling the little time he remembered while in the 'real world.' He would have to fight and protect the Digital World against all evil digimon that tried to harm it. That didn't sound too bad since Patamon had said that was the main job of a digidestined anyways. The catch, though, was he wouldn't be able to leave the Digital World. The only time he'd be able to see Matt, Tai, Kari, and the others would be when they were in the Digital World. If he got his memories back, he might find out that being away from his friends and family would be torture to him. They were, after all, his friends, and they had gone through many tough times that had brought them close. Even though he couldn't remember what those times were like, he knew that they had made them grow closer and develop strong relationships. If he used the digi-core would he be throwing those relationships away?

Then, if he decided that that was a good enough reason to not take the digi-core, what would happen from then? There still was the Digimon Emperor to deal with. From what Gennai had said, this character had taken full control of the Digital World. He knew that they would have trouble defeating him, but he knew they could do it. Thinking about the Digimon Emperor made him think about the promise he made to Wormon. From what Wormon had said, this 'Ken' guy used to be good, but had now turned evil. He and Patamon had promised that they would get rid of the evil inside of the Digimon Emperor. TK didn't remember if he had been before losing his memories, but he wanted to be known as a man of his word. This made him think 'If he didn't take the digi-core, would he and Patamon be strong enough to keep their promise?'

There were positives to not taking the digi-core, obviously. He would finally be able to meet his dad, brother, and friends. He could get to know the real world, his home world, better, and he would certainly have good times with his family and friends. Also, he was sure that he'd finally be able to get most of his memory back, even if it took a while. He felt like he would enjoy his life much more if he refused Gennai's offer, but if he didn't take the digi-core then he would always wonder what his life would be if he would've chose to take the digi-core.

He raised his hands to his hands as he started getting a headache. He had so much on his mind, and he had been thinking like that for, what, a couple hours by now. He stood up from where he was sitting, on the bridge that went over the little stream, and decided he'd go check up on Tokomon. Last time he checked, Tokomon was taking another nap with a blanket on trying to warm up from the battle against BlueMeramon. TK could still not shake off the guilt inside of him that the battle had caused. He had vowed to himself that he would not let anyone or any-mon sacrifice themselves for his own sake, and he had already broken that vow. He knew Tokomon was going to be ok, but he still felt just as guilty for not being able to do anything to protect his partner. What if they were facing a stronger digimon and Tokomon had… he couldn't even stand the thought.

Suddenly, Gennai's house had disappeared. Everything went black.

He looked around confused and scared. Then he could finally start making out a scene. He remembered that it was a memory from his first adventure in the Digital World. How he knew that with his lack of memory he didn't know.

This place definitely wasn't Gennai's house. It was cold here. They were on a mountain, Infinity Mountain he remembered, and Patamon was standing next to him, fear evident on his partner's face. His friends: Tai, his brother Matt, Sora, Joe, Izzy, and Mimi were all kneeling next to their partners looking towards Patamon who was standing next to… him. He had to be about seven or eight years old, and he was crying. He felt ashamed by this, but he passed it off blaming the reaction on his youth. He followed his and his partner's fearful glances and saw Devimon. Devimon was laughing evilly while talking about something. He stretched out his claw and closed his hand around the younger version of him and Patamon. He watched his brother run for him screaming. Then, a white light shone from Devimon's hand. TK recognized it; it was the light of digivolution. Devimon released his grip and young TK fell to the rock-hard ground. In the air, Patamon was still shining and changing forms. When the digivolution was complete, Angemon was flying in the air facing Devimon. The other digidestineds stared with their mouths open at the sight of Angemon. He didn't know why, but as the younger version of him stared in awe at his partner he could tell that he was thinking, "I'm so glad he's not Oinkmon!"

The angel and the archangel talked, and then all of a sudden lights from the digidestineds digivices shot towards Angemon. Angemon drew back his fist and threw his arm out in a punching motion. The young TK shot out something probably close to "Be careful Angemon."

A bright orange beam of light shot towards Devimon causing a huge explosion of white light. When he could finally see again, the top halves of Angemon and Devimon were slowly deteriorating. Devimon was laughing like a maniac while Angemon was looking back at the younger version of himself smiling. Young TK was crying and shouting out at his partner not to die, but Angemon finally was gone and young TK dropped to his knees with his head bowed down.

Then, he was back in Gennai's place. He was shivering and found himself covered in a cold sweat. As he panted softly, he saw that he was standing right outside Gennai's house. He was wiping his brow when the door opened and Patamon came flying out. Patamon nearly ran into him clearly not expecting anyone to be standing directly on the other side of the door. Patamon's confused expression then turned into one of happiness.

"TK!"

Patamon practically tackled him as he caught his partner and held him close. For a second, TK had thought that Patamon had died for good and wasn't alive any more. But Patamon was ok. He hugged his partner closer.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too, but you did just see me this morning."

"I know, but I just…" an image of Angemon deteriorating flashed through his mind, "I can't stand the thought of losing you. When BlueMeramon attacked you and you became Tokomon, I… I thought… Devimon…"

Patamon instantly drew back from him and looked at him, concern clear in his face. "You remember Devimon?"

"Well, yes, you told me about it in the airport," he said hoping that Patamon would buy this excuse.

"Yes I did, but you made it sound like you remembered what happened."

"Well…" TK explained how he had randomly blacked out and watched Angemon battle against Devimon.

Patamon was about to say something when Gennai opened the door of his house and came charging out. He as well almost ran into him, but he stopped himself at the last second.

"Oh, there you are TK. Have you decided yet?"

TK looked at Patamon who gave him a look like 'We'll talk about this later.' He didn't just look at his partner, though. He thought about his partner. He may not have his memories back, but he didn't need them to realize that Patamon was his best friend and he loved him so much that he didn't know what he'd do without him. That meant that he couldn't let Patamon sacrifice his life for his. He knew that if a situation like that arises, then Patamon would not hesitate to give up his life for him. It already had happened once since he lost his memory, and if he used the digi-core then there would be more situations like the one against Devimon. He couldn't let that happen; he couldn't lose Patamon again. His mind was made up.

"Yes, I have actually."

"Oh good! What have you decided?"

Patamon looked at him with a smile on his face showing that he had his partner's support no matter what he chose. This finalized TK's decision.

"I'm sorry, but I have to refuse your offer Gennai. I am not going to take the digi-core."

* * *

He was disturbed by the news he was watching. By what he saw, it appeared that there were digimon in the real world. At first he thought he wasn't seeing correctly, but as he looked at his television he saw a digimon appear and start attacking one of Odaiba's sky scrapers. How were digimon getting to the Digital World, and why were they here?

He hadn't ordered any digimon to go to the real world, and he controlled the entire Digital World. These digimon didn't have any control spires on. Who then, if anybody, were they working for? Could there be some other villain in the Digital World trying to take over the real world? Whoever it was, they needed to be stopped, but he'd deal with that later.

He didn't have time to worry on petty matters such as this. He had to finish his creation. His partner digimon was almost complete. He was quite proud of the digimon he had come up with. There was no way that the digidestineds, or anybody else for that matter, would be able to destroy him. He had no weaknesses.

His digimon was Neominmon. He had Greymon's legs and tail. His body was that of NeoDevimon's. He had four of NeoDevimon's claws and two of Kabuterimon's. There also was NeoDevimon's and Birdramon's wings. It was finished off with Kabuterimon's mask and Ikkakumon's horn. Sure, the digimon looked ridiculous, but he was a being of pure power. Nothing could stop this digimon. He was made of the best parts of some of the strongest digimon in the Digital World.

Pointing his digivice at his computer, a white light shined brightly in his room as he was pulled into the Digital World. Once he stopped moving, he opened his eyes and laughed as he saw he was in his Digimon Emperor clothes. He belonged here, it was his destiny to rule the Digital World. His smile faded, though, as he heard his alarm going off. He ran to his throne room and turned his chair around. He typed frantically on his keyboard and the map of the Digital World popped up. He was shocked to find that nearly a quarter of his control spires were destroyed. He angrily scanned the map looking for the digidestineds, but he couldn't find any sign of them. Then another control spire was destroyed. He growled as he went back to typing on his keyboard. A live view of the last area to be rid of a control spire was shown. His anger reached a new high as he saw an unfortunately familiar face with a digimon that did not look familiar. He needed to finish up Neomnimon. He didn't know who the digimon was, but the digimon was undoubtedly very strong. That, and the digimon had the blonde digidestined with him.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon

Ummm... sorry it's been a while since an update, and this is a pathetic one at that. I felt like I had to force myself to write this one so it's not my best work, at least to me it isn't. But yeah, I've been really busy these past couple of weeks and I haven't had the motivation to write so I'm sorry for all of you waiting for the rest of the story. Anyways, thank you to all of you reviewers. You guys are the reason I haven't quit this story, and hopefully I won't quit this story. I apologize like I said before for it not being a great chapter, but I hope you guys like it nevertheless. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 30:

If only she had realized how true it was when she said it seemed like her day would never end. It was now eight at night and they were still battling digimon. The sun was long gone and it seemed to take away all of their energy. She felt exhausted from running all over town, and she could only imagine how tired Nefertimon was along with all of the other digimon who had actually been battling the entire day.

For the first time since that morning all of the digidestineds were together. Well, except for TK that is. But he's been gone for so long that it was just natural to exclude him. She wondered how he was doing and where he was exactly. She used to miss her best friend, well, used to be best friend, all of the time, but since she started dating Davis she started to get her mind off of TK. She felt bad, like she was deserting TK and leaving him on his own, but there was nothing she could do to help him. And was worrying really going to help her?

Their digimon finished off the remaining digimon, two Yanmamon, and dedigivolved into their rookie forms to help keep some energy. Kari looked around Odaiba trying to find the next digimon attack, but there was none. All was silent, well, that was absolutely not true. Police cars, firetrucks, and ambulances lit up the night with their flashing lights and they blared their sirens and horns as they drove to different areas of the city. Random buildings were on fire from the digimon attacks and people were all outside looking with horror at all of the destruction. If she wasn't as exhausted as she was she would be devastated as well by the state of the city, but she was too tired for those feelings.

She looked for Gatomon but did not find her. Worry filled her as she started wondering what could have happened to her partner and how she could've been so dumb as to lose sight of her. As she took a step forward, she heard a familiar voice from her feet. She instantly looked down and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Salamon! There you are."

"Yupp, it's me…" Salamon said weakly as she crouched down to pick her partner up. As she did so her legs felt like they were about to give in, but she stayed strong and stood back up with her partner in her arms. She took a good glance at Salamon who instantly was asleep in her arms. She must've been very tired, and she couldn't blame her partner.

"Guys! We got a problem."

She turned and saw Tai holding a sleeping Koromon, but then Koromon wasn't there anymore. Suddenly Koromon reappeared. Kari recognized this; Koromon was deteriorating.

"Tai, what's wrong with…. DEMIVEEMON!"

Kari turned and saw DemiVeemon do the same as Koromon. She looked down and Salamon was doing the same. What was happening?

"Izzy! What's going on?!" Joe called out.

"I… it appears that our digimon are so exhausted that they are slowly deteriorating. I don't know why…"

"They've been in the real world too long! Gatomon was telling me the other day how it took more energy for digimon to be in the real world and…" she started.

"…and all this battling today has worn them out. But how are we going to get to the Digital World? We don't have enough time to get to the school, or at least what was the school?" Yolei continued.

Izzy smiled, "No problem, I have my laptop right here. Now, let's hurry before it's too late."

"Right," Davis said, "Digi…"

"DIGI-PORT OPEN!" Yolei exclaimed. Kari laughed as Davis looked at Yolei with a pout on his face before being sucked into Izzy's laptop by a bright white light.

* * *

This had to be one of the best days of his life. Well, from what he could remember of his life that is. He thought about the decision he made and wondered if it was too late to change his mind. The Digital World was amazing. There were no annoying people to worry about, it was quiet, and everything about it was simply beautiful. Everything seemed to be bright and full of life, except for the control spires that is. Those tall, ominous towers were pure evil, and they reminded him of Ken, and his thoughts about Ken weren't the kindest of all either.

He had long left Gennai's place. Once he made his decision Gennai offered him another meal which he and Patamon gratefully accepted. He had tried to read Gennai's feelings on his decision, but from what he could tell Gennai was one-hundred percent ok with the decision, not even a little bit disappointed. It was as if he knew what he was going to decide before he even told him. But that certainly couldn't be the case, could it?

Anyways, once they ate to their stomach's content, Gennai showed them the way out, which just happened to be the stairway he was so fond of. They said their goodbyes, and he and Patamon started climbing up the stairs. After about two steps, however, Gennai stopped them. He ran to his house quick and when he came back he was carrying what looked like four oddly shaped easter eggs. Patamon's eyes lit up when he saw the easter eggs, and Gennai handed them to him. He noticed that there were weird but somewhat familiar symbols on the eggs. Gennai explained that they were the digi-eggs of friendship, sincerity, reliability, and destiny. The digi-eggs started glowing and were sucked into his digivice. How those things managed to fit inside his digivice he had no idea. According to Gennai, the digi-egg of friendship was meant for someone named Davis, sincerity for a girl named Yolei, and reliability for Cody. He was surprised when Gennai told him that the digi-egg of destiny was for him and Patamon, though. He tried explaining that he already had a digi-egg, or at least that's what Patamon had said, but Gennai didn't listen. He also handed him the digi-core that he had refused to take. The digicore also disappeared into his digivice. Gennai then told them that once he got back to the others he was to release the digi-core. That would help them defeat the Digimon Emperor and another enemy that Gennai didn't say the name of. After all of that, they left Gennai's place and climbed the stairs into the Digital World.

Being in the Digital World with the most beast of a digimon was great. Rhinomon was… amazing to say the least. What, with the golden armor, his surprisingly quick speed, the fact that it was actually comfortable to ride him, and the way he could destroy a control spire with one attack. And then the whole having a mission -destroy the control spires, meet with the others, and give the Digimon Emperor the biggest beat down he's ever seen- thing helped keep his mind off of things. It was hard to think about how much losing your memory sucked or if your friends were going to remember you or even like you when you got back to them when you were charging around the Digital World on a golden rhino destroying control spires and battling digimon with dark spirals on them.

At the time, Rhinomon was heading straight for another control spire, but suddenly a huge green dinosaur digimon jumped out from the trees and right into their path. Rhinomon stopped and TK had to hold on tight to avoid flying off of his partner. The digimon was staring at them with emotionless eyes.

"TK, we have a problem."

"I see that quite clearly."

"No, this Tuskmon doesn't have a dark spiral on. He's not being controlled by the Digimon Emperor."

"What?!" He studied the green digimon closer. He had two huge black tusks with red stiped, and he had a row of sharp, intimidating horns going down his back. Nowhere to be seen on the Tuskmon was a dark spiral. "What do we do then, Rhinomon?"

"I think…"

Rhinomon was cut off by the sound of more digimon coming out of the trees. A BlueMeramon, possibly the same one from before, appeared on their left. A huge, red beetle with two sharp pincers appeared on their right, and then a brown ogre-looking thing came out from behind them. They were surrounded by digimon that looked like they wanted nothing more than to destroy the two of them right then on the spot. Maybe this wasn't one of the best days of his known life.

"You are the child of hope. Our master wants you brought to him. Come with us."

"There's no way I'm going with you guys. Rhinomon, shall we show them a lesson?"

"I think we shall."

"Let's do this."

Rhinomon jumped- surprisingly high for such a big digimon- backwards over the ogre digimon. He quickly hopped off and Rhinomon charged forward towards the oncoming digimon.

"Atomic Burst!" Rhinomon formed a forcefield around his body as he continued charging at the digimon. The ogre threw his club at Rhinomon, but it simply bounced off Rhinomon's barrier. The ogre watched with wide eyes as Rhinomon put his head down and then thrusted it upwards causing the ogre to go flying through the air. He watched in horror as the digimon slowly started fading away and then finally deleted. Rhinomon had killed a digimon? That's not what they were supposed to do. He didn't want to fight if it mean killing digimon, but then again these digimon were attacking him and they didn't even have dark spirals on. And although it seemed like they were working for someone who wanted him dead, he couldn't bear the thought of killing digimon. It just didn't seem right.

"Ice Phantom!"

TK quickly turned around to find BlueMeramon standing no further than ten feet away from him sending a ball of blue flames right at him. He dove out of the way and landed hard on his side. He rolled over and got to his feet, but BlueMeramon was getting closer and was about to send another attack right at him. Behind him he could hear the crackle of fire and knew that the trees were on fire. Rhinomon was charging towards Tuskmon, but the red beetle came out of nowhere and grabbed Rhinomon with his pincers. The beetle threw Rhinomon who landed hard on the ground and skidded to a halt. His attention was drawn back towards BlueMeramon who now was standing right in front of him.

"Ice Phant…"

"Fire Rocket!"

"Gold Rush!"

"Tempest Wing!"

"Rosetta Stone!"

"TK DUCK!"

To say he was surprised was an understatement, but he could tell by the urgency in that familiar voice that he needed to obey the order. He crouched to the ground and saw BlueMeramon flying back while little pieces of rubble fell onto him. He stood up and saw that Tuskmon and the red beetle were nowhere to be seen. BlueMeramon slowly stood up and said,

"We will meet again child of Hope, and you will come with us when that happens."

With that BlueMeramon was gone, nowhere to be seen. What he did see, though, was his partner lying on the ground.

"Tokomon!"

He ran for his partner. Once he was there he dropped to his knees and scooped up the tiny digimon. Tokomon opened his eyes and smiled, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're alright… thank goodness."

"Of course I'm alright. But TK, look behind you."

TK stood up and did what his partner had asked. He thought he knew what he expected to see, and he was right, but finally seeing them was… overwhelming.

"TK!"

A guy with blonde hair quickly ran up to him and tackled him in a hug. TK tried to resist them, but he couldn't. Tears flowed from his eyes as he realized he finally was with his family and friends. He finally was home.


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

This chapter should've went with the previous one, but then it would've been a really, really big chapter. I have to say that this chapter got me in the grove of writing again. I enjoyed writing it and I believe it's a lot better than the last one. And can I just say how grateful I am for all of you reviewers out there! Really appreciate all you guys are saying, and in case you didn't know I do read and enjoy ALL reviews so please leave one if you feel so inclined. And without further ado... here's Chapter 31! ^^

* * *

Chapter 31:

Of all the times that they had gone back and forth from the Digital World recently, Matt had never grown accustomed to travelling from world to world. The thought that they were being sucked into a laptop and going into a whole other world didn't exactly comfort him. And then the landings were always rough. This world travelling stuff was not easy on the body, and he thought for certain that one of these times someone was going to get hurt. 'Unless we put pillows down where we land,' he cursed at himself for not being smart enough to think of that.

Despite hitting the ground hard, he breathed a sigh of relief as he found himself in the Digital World with Tsunomon in his arms who no longer was fading in and out like he had when they were in the real world. He got to his feet and saw that the others were slowly standing up with their digimon. They all seemed to be ok, and the other digimon had stopped fading in and out as well. The digimon were going to be ok, and that was reason enough to be happy.

Well, he wasn't really happy. It had been so long since he had really been "happy." Actually, the last time he could remember feeling that way was when TK was in Odaiba. It was the last time TK was there before moving to France for good, right after the battle against Diaboromon four years ago.

* * *

_ "__Matt, are the others coming? They said they were going to come."_

_He laughed at his little brother. It was 7:10 at night and TK looked as if he was about to cry. The others weren't even supposed to show up until 7:15, but TK must have thought that they weren't going to show up. His little brother had a lot to learn about teenagers._

_"__Just relax little bro. It's not even seven fifteen yet. Besides, isn't that Kari and Tai coming right now?"_

_"__KARI!"_

_With that, TK dashed off without warning toward Tai and Kari.. Kari let go of Tai's hand and ran to greet TK. The two younger siblings hugged each other exchanging greetings. Matt walked over and waved at Tai._

_"__Hey, long time no see."_

_Tai looked confused, "But, didn't we just see each other yesterday?"_

_"__It was sarcasm Tai."_

_"__Oh…."_

_"__TAI!"_

_TK ran and gave Tai a big hug as well. Tai looked down surprised at first, but then realizing it was TK he said, "Oh hey little guy!"_

_"__I'm not so little any more Tai. I'm four foot ten and a half," he said proudly._

_"__Oh, haha, I see that. I guess you are getting bigger."_

_"__Well, not as big as you…"_

_"__Hey, who knows, maybe someday you will be taller than me and Tai."_

_"__Yeah!"_

_"__Will I ever be as tall as you, Tai?"_

_"__Umm… if you work really hard at it, Kari, then maybe you'll have a chance."_

_"__Ok! I'll try my best," she said with a smile. Matt laughed at the two little kids. They were so innocent. As Matt looked at his brother, he hoped that TK wouldn't be in France for too long. He loved his brother, and he didn't know what he'd do without him._

_"__I'm so glad that you guys came! I didn't think anyone was going to come," TK said happily._

_"__Of course we came. We wouldn't miss this even if more Diaboromon started another attack on the real world."_

_"__Don't forget about us!"_

_They all turned and saw another group of digidestineds walking up to them. Matt smiled as he saw Sora walk up to the group with a smile of her own on her face. Sure, Mimi, Joe, and Izzy, were with her as well, but Sora was… well, beautiful, funny, charming, and… oh, he already said beautiful._

_"__MIMI!" Matt laughed as TK ran up and gave Mimi a big hug who started laughing and saying "hi" to TK. Then he looked back at Sora who was smiling at him._

_"__Hi So…" he started._

_"__Hi Sora! Hi Mimi! Hi Izzy! Hi Joe!" Kari beat him to it. _

_They all greeted each other as they stood outside the ice cream shop. It was a beautiful day outside, well, night. It wasn't warm out, but at the same time it wasn't cold out; it was just right. The sky was clear and millions of stars could be seen in the sky. _

_Once they exchanged their greetings TK exclaimed, "Now let's go get ice cream!"_

_They walked into the ice cream shop and went up to the front counter. TK and Kari ordered their ice cream first, then Tai and Izzy, then Mimi and Joe, and finally he and Sora._

_"__Thanks for coming Sora. I'm glad that you could make it," he said to Sora as they waited in line._

_"__I wouldn't have missed it in the world. You said this is TK's last night in Odaiba before moving back?"_

_"__Yupp, he's flying back to France tomorrow morning."_

_"__That must be rough on him, and you. I'm sure you miss him a lot while he's gone."_

_"__You have no idea. Besides my dad, TK's the only family I have in Odaiba right now. And dad is always working, so it can get lonely at times."_

_"__Well, if you ever need someone to hang out with I'm always here for you."_

_He gave her a bright smile. "Thanks Sora. I might have to hold you to your word."_

_Once they all had their ice cream, they walked out of the store and headed for the park. Of all the places they could have spent their night, TK had chosen the park. It's not that he didn't like the park; it's just that the park was meant for kids. Then again, TK was only nine years old, and Matt wanted his little brother to enjoy his time in Odaiba, so the park it was._

_They let the two youngest lead the way as they talked about the past few days while licking their ice cream. They had finally reunited with their partners after a year of not seeing them, but, just like that, they were back in the Digital World. Once Diaboromon was defeated, Gennai had called them back to the Digital World to "give up" their crests so that the Digital World would be protected. None of them really agreed to the plan, but Gennai had… uh, persuaded them to go with it. Matt shook his head as anger started building up and listened in to the conversation._

_"… __mean, it's dumb isn't it? We haven't seen them in a year, but Gennai just takes them away from us without even caring. And on top of that he takes our crests away. I've about had enough of that guy."_

_"__Well, Tai, it seems as if we won't ever have to worry about Gennai ever again…"_

_"__YES!" Tai cheered._

_"…__because he's not going to let us back into the Digital World," Izzy completed. _

_"__Oh…."_

_"__No, don't say that. You have to stay positive!" Mimi exclaimed._

_Sora nodded, "Yeah, Gennai didn't say this time around that we wouldn't be heading back to the Digital World."_

_"__I don't know you guys. I like to stay realistic. I think I'm allergic to getting my hopes up and then having them be stomped on."_

_"__What do you think Izzy?" Mimi asked turning and giving him a big smile. Izzy looked confused, but he was blushing. This shocked Matt. Izzy and Mimi weren't exactly "buddy-buddy," but here Mimi was acting as if they were best friends. He made a mental note to ask Izzy about what was going on between the two of them later._

_"__I… uh… I don't kn…"_

_"__WE'RE HERE!" TK and Kari yelled out. The two of them ran off to the playground laughing all the way. The others watched the little kids in amusement. After a long period of silence, TK yelled back to the rest,_

_"__Hey! Aren't you guys going to come play with us!?"_

_"__Yeah, Tai, come on!" Kari joined in._

_Matt sighed. He didn't want to be caught playing on a playground, but if it would make his brother happy then he would do it. _

_"__Come on you guys."_

_"__I'm all…"_

_"__JOE! You're coming too!" Sora said while dragging him towards the playground. _

_The rest of the night was a blur. At the end of it, all he remembered was Tai screaming like a girl when he finally made it all the way around on the swing and Joe puking because they had spun the merry-go-round too fast for his weak stomach. Now, it was completely dark out and everyone was gone. TK was basically a zombie with his eyes half closed as they walked back to the apartment. He had to say that even he was pretty tired, but he decided that it was all worth it in the end. He had a smile of pure happiness on as he walked holding his little brother's hand._

* * *

Since then, he had been nowhere close being happy. Besides finally going back to the Digital World and seeing Gabumon, nothing good had happened for him. He hadn't seen TK or his mother in four years now. His dad was still working basically non-stop at the television station. Sora was dating Tai. Yeah, nothing seemed to be going his way recently.

"…att. Matt! Hello?!"

Matt shook his head and realized that the others were all staring at him looking worried.

"Huh? What?"

"You've been ignoring us for the past couple minutes now."

"Oh… sorry."

"GUYS LOOK!" Yolei screamed out. They looked at where she was pointing and saw what she was talking about. Off in the distance, less than a mile away, smoke was rising up from the trees.

"Let's go!" Tai ordered.

Before they started running, the older digidestineds' digimon partners digivolved into their rookie forms while the newer ones and Kari digivolved into their armor forms.

"You guys go on ahead. We'll catch up eventually."

Davis, Kari, Yolei, and Cody nodded as they and their digimon took off for the fire.

"I wish you could digivolve Biyomon. It would certainly be a lot easier, especially since I'm exhausted."

"I believe we are all exhausted. I mean, we have been up since early this morning and our bodies are supposed to… get… eight hours…." Izzy stopped there, panting heavily. He was never good at sports, so he just didn't do them. This running really showed that.

Matt would've handled the running no problem. As a singer, he needed to have strong lungs, so he had been trying to run every day for, oh, about the past four months or so. Most of the time he kept up with his daily running, but, he had to admit, sometimes it was easier to just sleep in and forget about running. But this was no ordinary day. They had been fighting digimon the entire day, running all over the city, and now they were still running. He was going to sleep easily tonight.

They didn't talk much after that partly because none of them had the extra air it took to talk and partly because they were anxious about what was waiting for them. It was times like these that he didn't want anything more than to wring the Digimon Emperor's neck. If Gabumon could digivolve into Garurumon then not only would he not be running, but whatever digimon they were going to battle in the next few minutes would not stand a chance. Those stupid control spires, though, wouldn't let Gabumon digivolve. He couldn't wait for the moment they defeated the dang Emperor.

They were getting closer to the fire as they now ran through the trees trying to avoid tripping and falling. Most of them didn't fall, but Sora did. She let out a high pitched squeal as she fell face front to the ground. He and the rest of the group stopped dead in their tracks. He started to walk over to help her up, but Tai had already run over and grabbed her hand.

"Sora, are you ok?" he asked eying her seriously.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank Tai," she said sweetly.

The couple then tilted their heads and leaned in towards each other. Matt instantly turned and ran towards the fire, jealousy burning throughout his body. He should've been the one to help Sora up. He should've been the one dating Sora. He should've been with his brother at home right now not worrying about the Digimon Emperor and not battling digimon the entire day.

As he ran through the forest he noticed that everything was growing darker. The trees were turning gray. The sun had disappeared behind a sky-full of gray, ominous clouds. In the distance he heard… waves?

He could still see the smoke, and he was getting closer to the fire, but at the same time he could tell he no longer was in the same place. He looked at Gabumon next to him who was acting as if nothing was wrong, but something was wrong, wasn't it? Maybe he had just gone color blind by some freak accident.

"Who are you?"

He turned to where he heard the creepy, scratchy voice and stopped running. He turned to see something, he didn't know what, that was completely black. It looked like a cross between a human and a frog, and the creature was dripping... darkness? He shook his head thinking he was imagining what he was seeing, but the dark figure did not go away. He cursed to himself.

"Who are you?" the creature repeated, this time moving towards him.

Matt slowly moved away from the creature.

"I… I'm…"

"You are not the hope child. You do not belong here."

He was about to run away, but he couldn't. The hope child? Did they mean TK? Was TK here in this place?

"Do you mean TK?"

"What?"

"You said the hope child. Were you talking about TK?"

"It is none of your business. You need to leave now."

"It is too my business! I'm his effing brother!"

The creature stopped walking towards him and just stared at him. If the creature had eyebrows Matt thought that they would be raised.

"His brother?"

"Yes, I'm his brother. What have you done to TK?"

The creature did not answer him. Instead, the black, slimy _thing _simply stood, staring at him with black eyes. He wanted to run away, to be anywhere but… here, but he needed to find out what this thing knew about TK.

Then the creature started moving towards him faster than before. "You are needed here. Come, stay with us. We can use you to get to the child of hope!"

Matt took that as his cue to run away. As he did he saw a fire and a bunch of digimon standing in an open plain. It was then he remembered the fire that they were running towards. He looked around and saw Nefertimon, Halsemon, Digmon, and Flamedramon dedigivolving to their rookie forms- champion for Gatomon- as they stood next to their partners. Gabumon was looking left and right with a worried look on his face. Matt kept surveying and saw a tiny digimon lying on the ground, not moving. The digimon looked awfully familiar. Then a young boy with blonde hair ran towards the digimon and scooped him up in his arms.

Light filled up inside of him as he realized who the digimon and the boy was. He was not ashamed to say that tears of joy fell from his face. Although he hadn't seen TK in four years there was no mistaking him for someone else. The blonde hair, blue eyes, and the digimon who he now realized was Tokomon. Suddenly all of the color came back to him and the gray was gone. His anger and sadness were gone and replaced with joy, light, and hope. He no longer worried about the dark creature chasing him because he knew that he was no longer in the same place. Somehow, he knew he was safe for that moment. And finally, the moment he had been waiting for for four years now arrived. He ran, tears still falling, towards his brother.

"TK!"

He put his arms around his brother and held him close. He was not about to let go any time soon.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

Ok, so I'm forced with a little bit of writer's block. I have the ending of this story planned out(not really but I have an idea), but I'm not sure how I'm going to get there. Seeing that I have this problem, and this chapter is part of the lead-up to the conclusion; this chapter isn't as good as it could be. I'm sorry, but I haven't really had much time use on writing this story. I want to keep this updated as much as possible, though, soooo... I'm trying my best haha. Anyways, you all don't really care about all of this, but I just thought I'd let you know that this chapter isn't that good, but better chapters should be coming in the near future, hopefully. Thank you for all of the reviews. We're at 171 and it's all thanks to you guys! I hope y'all keep reviewing and, as always, if you have any suggestions or any ideas to help me with this story then please share them in a review or pm. And... yeah, here's Chapter 32.

* * *

Chapter 32:

TK had to take a deep breath to keep his mind about him. So much was happening so fast. One moment he was about to die by the hands of BlueMeramon, then he was on his knees checking to see if his partner was ok. The next he was practically being tackled to the ground by his brother. All that stuff really shook him up a bit.

He knew that it was going to happen eventually and he was looking forward to seeing everyone, especially his brother, but when the moment came he had to admit he was pretty scared. Especially when his brother came charging at him without warning. They hugged for a long time, and it was a long time. Matt was crying into his shoulder and tears came to TK's eyes, but they were not tears of happiness like his brother's. He cried because he was sad. Sure, he was glad that he was finally seeing his brother, but the fact that he did not remember or recognize his brother at all was sad. Here his brother was filled with so much emotion, and all TK felt was… nothing. It almost made him regret not choosing to get his memory back from the digi-core.

TK let go of his brother and Matt took a step back wiping the tears from his eyes. TK did the same and, when noticing that he had dropped Tokomon to hug Matt, picked his partner back up and held him close.

"I missed you so much TK. I thought…. I thought I'd never see you again."

There was a bright flash and TK's attention was drawn to behind his brother. He saw four digimon standing next to what he assumed were their partners. There was a boy his age with messy, brown hair and wore goggles standing next to a blue dinosaur digimon. A girl who maybe looked a year older and had huge glasses and an orange hat was hugging a red and white bird. Then there was a little kid, probably eight or so years old, talking to a yellow armadillo-looking digimon. Finally, he saw someone standing next to a white cat that brought a memory back to him.

* * *

_"__TK? TK is that you?"_

_He sighed. He did not want to wake up yet, he was still pretty tired. The voice, though, he recognized the voice. He didn't know from where, but it was a friend. He opened his eyes and stood up. _

_Darkness was everywhere. That was it, well, except for the glowing image in the distance. He looked at his own body and saw that he was glowing as well. He looked exactly like himself, mind you, but his body seemed to be giving off light, just like the other person in the distance. _

_As he looked at himself, he noticed that dark spiral was still on his wrist. He ignored it, though, as the girl ran up to him._

_"__It is you TK!"_

_He looked at the girl who gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen. She seemed to glow even brighter when she smiled, but that could've been his eyes playing a trick on him. He wished he knew this girl's name because she obviously knew him, and although he knew she was familiar he didn't know exactly who she was. _

_"__Ummm…. Hi?"_

_The girl's smile faltered at his hesitance. _

_"__TK? Don't you remember me?"_

_"__I… I'm sorry. I feel like I should know you, but I got nothing."_

_"__It's me, Kari!"_

_Kari, that was the girl's name. Then it all clicked. This was the girl that he had saved, a digidestined. _

_"__You… you were the one I saved, right?"_

_"__Yes, and thank you for doing so! I can't imagine where I'd be now if you didn't. But, then again, I don't know where I am now either."_

_TK had no idea where they were at either, but he felt uncomfortable with this girl present. _

_"__I.. I have to go."_

_"__What, why?"_

_"__My master will be even more upset if…"_

_"__TK you have no master! The Digimon Emperor put you under his control. You are a digid…"_

_"__I am not one of you. I serve my master."_

_"__TK…"_

_She reached her arm out and grabbed hold of his hand. His first reaction was to jerk his hand away, but he couldn't. This girl truly cared for him, he could tell that much. _

_"__You are a digidestined. The Digimon Emperor has you under his control. This thing," she said pointing at the dark spiral, "is why you are under his control. And I know that you know I'm right. Why else would you have saved me?"_

_The girl was right. He could definitely tell that something was wrong, and this dark spiral was causing problems for him. If only there was a way he could destroy it…_

_Kari reached her other hand out and grabbed his wrist. Her hand touched the dark spiral and a bright white light shone. Instantly he felt pain. He could feel light trying to come inside of him and fill him up, but there was darkness inside of him and it fought back. This war between light and darkness seemed as if it were equal, and TK felt more and more pain as the light and darkness continued fighting. _

_"__TK, you gotta fight back. Don't let the darkness win."_

_He could feel the darkness trying to take over his mind. It would be easier just to give in to it, but he couldn't. Kari was depending on him. She believed he could fight back. And so he did. He focused hard on extinguishing the darkness. He ignored the pain the best he could and continued focusing on fighting the darkness. He heard Kari encouraging him and he got stronger as she did so. The darkness realizing that it was almost finished moved to his head. Darkness filled his mind and the pain was too much to ignore. He cried out and he heard Kari encourage him one last time. Finally, the light extinguished the darkness. TK fell to his knees, panting. He heard someone else panting as well as they placed their hand on his shoulder._

_"__TK… are… you ok?_

_He opened his eyes and looked at the girl kneeling beside him._

* * *

She was the girl. She also was on his computer- which he made sure he didn't say out loud because that would give him many strange looks. He recognized her as the girl his age that went with them in their first adventure in the Digital World. Granted she was seven or eight in the picture, but she still looked the same. Her short, brown hair. Those deep, mahogany eyes. Her slim figure, and her smile that seemed to fill you up with light and happiness. He remembered that there had been something between the two of them. Some sort of connection or maybe a strong friendship, but he couldn't remember it, which pained him.

"Bro, you ok?"

TK shook his head. He must have been showing his pain because Matt was looking at him with a concerned face. He scolded himself for letting his feelings show and put on a smile.

"I'm fine."

"Good. So, why don't you come see the rest of the group?"

He nodded and followed his brother as they walked up to the four kids and their digimon. As they did he couldn't help but notice that the goggle-head and Kari were holding hands. He wasn't exactly sure if he was happy for them or upset by this. Then again, he hadn't seen Kari in four years and didn't even remember her so how could he expect that they would start dating as soon as they met. Besides, Kari was a beautiful girl, and she probably had dated lots of guys by now. Once again he scolded himself for thinking too much and greeted the others with a smile.

"Hey everyone, I'd like you to meet my brother TK," Matt said with a smile.

"Ahem!" said a little voice coming from his arms.

"Oh yeah, and this is his partner Tokomon."

"Hi TK! Do you… remember me?"

TK blushed against his will and he could feel his face growing hotter. He simply nodded. 'Stupid' he thought to himself, 'you're so stupid. Get a hold of yourself.'

"Of course I do Kari. You helped free me from that dark spiral."

He could practically see the relief in Kari's face as she smiled and stepped towards him with her arms outstretched. He did the same and he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He closed his eyes as he tried really hard to remember something, anything of his old life. He knew there was something between them. There was something there… but he had no luck. He felt her push away and he reluctantly let go of her. She went back to her spot next to the goggle head. It was then that he realized he was not ok with the two of them dating.

"I'm so glad you're ok." As she said that he could tell that something was wrong with her. She was… scared of him? No, that wasn't it. She sounded guilty. What she had done, though, he had no idea. He locked eyes with her and she quickly looked down at the ground and quickly reached out for her boyfriend's hand who cupped hers in his. He made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"Matt! Where are you Ma… Matt! Hey guys, I found him!"

Out of the trees came a guy that looked Matt's age. He had crazy brown hair and he was running up to them with an orange dinosaur following him. Tai, was that what Patamon said the boy's name was? Following Tai was a girl with orange-red hair who had a pink-bird digimon flying next to her. Two more came out of the trees; two guys, one with longer, blue hair and the other with short red hair. They had what looked like a white seal and a red beetle going with them. Tai, Sora, Izzy, and Joe; his old friends.

Tai was the first one to make it to the rest of them and he was looking angrily at Matt not seeming to have noticed TK. He was out of breath and clearly had been running for a long time.

"We... have… been… looking… all… over… for… you," he panted.

"I'm sorry Tai but I got a little caught up. I'll tell you about it later, but look who I found," he said pointing towards TK.

Tai's jaw instantly dropped when he saw him. Any other day he probably would have laughed at Tai's shock, but this wasn't any other day. Sora, Izzy, and Joe must have seen him as they were running up to the group because he heard his name being shouted. He didn't know why but he had the sudden urge to run away. Yes, he was finally getting to see his long-lost friends, but he didn't remember them. He was just… overwhelmed by all of it.

He stayed where he was, though. He and Sora shared a long hug and he shook hands with Tai, Izzy, and Joe. They all seemed happy to see him, well, except for Davis, Yolei, Cody- those were the "new" digidestineds-, and Kari. The fact that Kari looked more disturbed than happy that he was back upset him, but he couldn't think too much about that.

He was asked a thousand questions by the group as they walked back to the television the others had found. Tokomon was walking and talking with the other digimon, of course, leaving him all alone. That wasn't true; he had his friends back so he wasn't alone, but it sure felt that way.

"So where have you been all this time, TK?"

"Do you mean before or after I lost my memory?"

"Umm, how much do you remember?"

He sighed and then told them all that he remembered. He told them everything, from waking up in the Digimon Emperor's fortress, to having the others save him from BlueMeramon and the other digimon. They all listened pretty well, though Tai would randomly spurt out lines and Matt would put his arm on TK's shoulder to show his support. When he finished, Izzy was the first one to speak up.

"I have many questions to ask you TK, but it appears that we have reached the television."

"Right. Let's go back to the real world. Dad is going to want to see you TK. He's been worried sick."

A pang of guilt rushed through him. As they were walking back to the television he hadn't told the others that he wasn't going to go back with them. He hadn't even told Tokomon. But he knew it was the right thing to do. He did not truly remember his friends or his brother for that matter. Sure, he was told that he had gone on all of these amazing adventures with them and they all seemed to really care for him, but he did not know them. It was like they were forcing him to go back to his old life. It seemed like they only remembered the eight year old version of him. The one who cried whenever things didn't go his way, the one who was completely dependent on other people. And that was how they were treating him, and TK wasn't going to have any of that. Even if he didn't remember it, he had grown up. He wasn't a kid anymore. He had become independent; he had changed since they last saw him. And until they were going to accept him for who he was and realize that they weren't going to have the same TK that they remember, he couldn't be with them. But at the same time he was happy to be with people who used to be a part of his life. For once he was being cared for. He was able to share what he remembered of his life with his friends, and he loved that.

"Ok, are we all ready?"

He took a deep breath as he decided what he was going to do.

"No, we are not."

They all looked at him, confusion evident in their faces.

"What?"

"I'm not going with you guys."

Instantly furious refusals were being shot at him.

"What did you just say!"

"You're not staying here on your own!"

"We're not going to leave you here!"

Matt walked towards him and put both of his arms on his shoulders.

"TK, I thought you were dead. I never wanted to believe it, but I almost lost hope in you. And right when I was about to completely give up, we found you. I can't let you go again. Not after all of this. Please."

Tears came to his face. This was a lot tougher than he thought it was going to be. He never realized how hard it had been on his friends, especially Matt. The others were still uttering their disagreements.

"GUYS!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to find Kari walking towards them.

"Stop all of this. It is TK's choice whether he wants to be with all of us yet. He might not be ready for all of this because, in case all of you have forgotten, he has lost his memory. He doesn't remember the adventures we had as a group and I'm sure that his finally meeting us along with all that he's gone through the past few days is a bit overwhelming. Besides, I don't think we are even ready for him to be back yet."

"And what do you mean by that?" Tai asked, a little calmer.

"Ha! Have you listened to yourselves talking to him? 'You poor thing.' 'Don't worry TK, it's all ok now.' You guys are treating him like he is still the dependent, eight year old kid that you all remember. News flash; TK isn't a kid anymore. In fact, I'm sure he's a lot more mature than most of you because of what he went through. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if he wants to stay we shouldn't stop him. That includes you too Matt."

TK practically felt all of the guilt melt away. He no longer felt bad for deciding to stay, and, as he looked at the others, they all were starting to agree with Kari's words too. He looked at Kari and their eyes locked. She didn't look down at the ground, though. She met his eyes and gave him a warming smile and he smiled in return. He didn't know how, but he knew that that was the Kari that he remembered and loved. Wait, loved? He looked away as he felt his face growing warm.

"But… but… what if…" Matt started, not taking his eyes off of TK.

"Nothing's going to happen, Matt. It's only one night. I'll come find you guys tomorrow."

"It's too dangerous TK. I can't let you stay here with the Digimon Emperor…"

"The Digimon Emperor doesn't stay in the Digital World at night," Kari said.

"Besides," Tokomon continued, "I am not about to let anything happen to TK. I will keep him safe no matter what."

TK smiled at his partner before looking back at Matt who still didn't seem sold on leaving him here.

"Please, Matt. I promise I will see you guys tomorrow."

"And you'll come back with us to the real world tomorrow?"

"Yes, I promise that as well."

Matt took a deep breath and all was silent until finally, "Fine, but at least take my D-Terminal. That way you can contact us if anything comes up."

TK took the rectangular device, D-Terminal his brother had said, from his hands and pocketed it.

"Can we go back to the real world yet? I'm tired and need to go to sleep soon," the girl with the orange hat, Yolei, said.

"And all of our parents are probably worried sick about us," Cody added.

"They're right. We should get going," Sora said.

Without warning Matt pulled TK into a hug. Matt was whispering in his ear,

"This is dumb. You better be safe when I get back."

"I will Matt, don't worry about me."

Matt pulled away from the hug and walked towards Tokomon.

"You better keep him safe. I couldn't stand it if he got hurt, or worst. Promise me you'll keep him safe."

"I promise!" Tokomon said with a smile.

"Matt! Let's go!" Tai said urgently.

Matt took one last glance at TK and said, "Be safe," before walking towards the others who all had their digivices outstretched towards the television. He watched them as a bright white light surrounded them and pulled them into the screen. And just like that, they were gone, but he wasn't alone.

Evil, almost maniacal laughter came from behind him. He turned around and a wave of anger flowed through him as he saw who it was. The Digimon Emperor was sitting on top of a dragon digimon with huge red wings. Next to him was a huge black and white dinosaur digimon and a white horse with a red mask and gray wings.

"You are one dumb digidestined, but I'm glad that you are here," Ken said as he pulled out another dark spiral from his blue jacket.

"I hope you enjoy being back under my control."

* * *

TK was back. TK was back. Even though she had seen him with her own two eyes along with all of the others, she couldn't believe it. She hated to admit it, but she had officially given up on TK. He used to be her best friend. She remembered not only all the times that TK would try to protect her on their adventures, but also all the times that they would walk home from school together hand-in-hand, as happy as could be. But then one day TK left. Sure, he had said good-bye to her, but it was as if he had disappeared, poof, gone, and never to return again. She knew it wasn't his fault, but she couldn't stop herself from blaming him for leaving her alone. He was her only friend. Why did he have to go when Matt got to stay in Odaiba? It wasn't fair, and she blamed it all on him.

Despite the four years of bitterness she felt towards him, she never once stopped hoping that he would come back to her. She wished that one day he would return to Odaiba and everything would go back to normal. As time went on, though, she started to let go of TK. When he first left she couldn't stop thinking about him, but lately she hadn't been thinking about him at all. He was gone, and, though it may sound cruel, he was dead to her. She felt sorry for Matt and tried her best to comfort him and tell him that TK would make it back, but she never believed it. Even when she had the dream, she wanted to believe it, but she couldn't. She really did want him back, but at the same time she had let him go.

It was a bit shocking, then, to finally see TK again, completely unharmed. Well, he was in a life-or-death situation when they found him, but they had been able to save him and he wasn't hurt in any way. Guilt and remorse had filled her since they had saved him. As they were walking back to the television she started to realize how wrong she had been about TK. First off, it was not TK's fault at all that he had left. It angered her that she had put the blame wrongfully on him for all of those years. Then, it made her sad how she had given up hope on TK returning. She knew that he would never give up on her, but yet she had done so for him. What kind of friend was she? How terrible of a person was she to treat TK in the way she had been treating her?

One thing was for certain; she was going to make it up to TK. That was part of the reason she stuck up for him when he said he wanted to stay in the Digital World. Honestly, it didn't surprise her when TK told them what he had planned. The others were indeed talking to him like he was some long lost puppy that couldn't take care of itself and was one-hundred percent dependent on the people around it. She might not have known exactly what TK had gone through, but she knew he had matured a lot. Who, after losing their memory, would want to be surrounded by people who treated him like a two year old? The others were simply overacting, and she meant it when she said they weren't ready for TK to back. And this was one way she could pay TK back for the wrong she had done. That was why she stood up for him, and the way he smiled when she did so made her feel so much better.

Now they were walking through the devastated Odaiba to their homes. The portal landed them in the middle of the street right where they were standing when they went to the Digital World. Luckily for them the streets were empty and Izzy's laptop was unharmed. Izzy seemed particularly happy about that fact.

"TK is pretty cute, don't you think so Kari?" Yolei said cheerfully

"Huh?" Kari said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"I said… oh nevermind. You are not a good person to ask especially since Davis is right there."

"Did someone say my name?" Davis asked cluelessly.

Yolei sighed and started talking to Cody. Davis put both his hands on hers and looked at her, eyes full of concern.

"What's wrong Kari?"

"N… nothing Davis."

"Don't lie to me, please."

"Fine. It's TK. I guess I just never…"

"Kari! We're here; let's go. You can talk to _Davis _later."

She didn't want to go. She wanted to tell her boyfriend what was wrong. She wanted to open up and let loose all she had bottled up inside, but Tai literally dragged her to their apartment. The way he said Davis's name told her that he wasn't exactly happy about the two of them dating, but he was going to have to learn to deal with it. She wasn't a little kid that needed looked-after anymore; she was old enough to make her own decisions. She looked over her shoulder towards Davis who had a small frown on his face.

"I'll talk to you later."

"Right, see you tomorrow."

"Bye Kari! Bye Tai!" The others added as they waved good-bye.


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon!

Chapter 33! I had trouble writing this because I didn't know what to do about the digicore... but I decided that this would be the best way to do it. Let me know what you think in a review!

* * *

Chapter 33:

"Sir, there is someone here who wants to see you," one of the dark shadows told him.

He grunted and the shadow walked out more than likely to bring in this supposed guest.

To say he was in a bad mood was an understatement. Well, he always was in a bad mood- he did after all live in the Dark Ocean- but it was even worse. The digidestined of hope had ruined his plan. He had the child of light in his grasp; she was defeated. But then hope had to come in uninvited and ruin everything.

One good thing did come from that little incident, though. He now knew that light was not the strongest of the crests. Light could easily be overcome. Hope. Hope was different. Hope had been to the Dark Ocean twice now, and both times he escaped alive. To do that, hope had to be incredibly strong, much stronger than light. He needed that power. If he could use hope's power, he could become stronger than ever before and extend his reign not only to the Digital World, but to all worlds. No one would be able to stop him. But in order to get hope, he first needed to destroy the digidestined hope resided in. He now knew for certain because of the incident that the crests the digidestineds thought they gave away still resided inside them. The powers from each of their crests was still inside of them, and in order for him to take the power of hope for himself, he needed to destroy the digidestined of hope. And Dragomon would certainly enjoy doing that.

He needed to get his hands on the child of hope, though. So far none of his minions had found the child, but it hadn't been that long. It would only be a matter of time before one of them found the child of hope.

He was forced to stop thinking about this, though, when the door opened. He looked up and fear gripped him when he saw who it was. Only one digimon could cause the mighty Dragomon to be afraid, and the digimon walking up to him was a servant of this digimon.

"Dragomon, Daemon sounds his greetings," SkullSatamon said as he walked up towards him.

"Dae… Daemon? What does he want with me?"

"He requires your assistance."

"My assistance? What makes you think that I…"

"He says you will help him or he will come himself and… ah, _persuade _you to."

Anger boiled inside of him. He wanted nothing more to destroy Daemon and his minions, including Skull Satamon, but he was no match for Daemon. And if Daemon found out that he had destroyed one of his most trusted minions, then he would definitely be upset.

"What does he want of me?"

"He wants the dark spores. Surely you've heard about them."

"I have."

"He wants them to become stronger. With them he will become unstoppable."

"You still haven't told me what he wants of me."

"He needs you to destroy the digidestineds, all of them The so called Digimon Emperor possesses a dark spore, and the spore continues to grow inside of him. The digidestineds are trying to defeat the Emperor, and if they succeed then the dark spore will stop growing. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand you…"

"Good. Well, I must be going."

With that SkullSatamon turned and walked out of the room. Dragomon watched, full of hatred, as the door closed. Who did Daemon think he was to send his minions around and tell him, Lord Dragomon, what to do? Dragomon knew what he needed to do. If he could get hope's power and make it his own, then he would finally be strong enough to stand up to Daemon. Until then, he would lay low and follow Daemon's orders. But as soon as he had the power of hope, Daemon would be no more.

* * *

TK closed his eyes as the Emperor threw the dark spiral at him. He really wished he would have went with the others back to the real world, but nothing was going to change that. He was going to be back under the Emperor's control, possibly even lose his memory again if he ever got the spiral off of him. Patamon, well, Tokomon at the time, would more than likely have to face the digidestineds' digimon as a slave of the Emperor. And then his brother would be devastated seeing him under the control of the Emperor again. All in all, nothing good was going to come of this, and there was no way he could stop it.

He hugged Tokomon tighter and turned around so as to try and protect him from the spiral. He closed his eyes shut and waited for the spiral to hit him. As he did this, a familiar voice rang out,

"Sticking Thread!"

TK instantly turned and smiled when he saw who had saved them.

"Wormon!"

"Worm… Wormon?" the Digimon Emperor started. At first he sounded confused, but then the angry voice accustomed to the Emperor came back. "Why are you here you worthless excuse for a digimon!?"

"Ken. Please do not do this. This is not who you are…"

"Of course this is who I am. I am the Digimon Emperor."

"If that is the case then you are not my partner anymore."

"I never asked for you to be my partner in the first place. Besides, I have Neomnimon!"

As if on cue, a huge digimon flew down and landed right next to Ken. TK could tell that the digimon, Neomnimon was it, was not a… real digimon. His body did not seem as if it were the same throughout. For example, he had four pairs of wings. One looked as if they were on fire while the other was thin and wiry and a blood-red color. He also had bulky, orange legs and a strange mask that had a brown horn sticking out. There also were the four sharp claws that looked like they could pierce through just about anything. This digimon was definitely going to be hard to take down.

"Tokomon, you ready?"

"Yupp!" the little digimon cheered as he jumped out of TK's arms. TK watched as Tokomon started glowing and changed forms first to Patamon, and then to Rhinomon. Rhinomon stood protectively in front of TK, preparing to battle against the un-favored odds.

In the meantime, Wormon looked at Ken with a look of pure disappointment and shock.

"You… created a digimon?"

"Not just a digimon; I created the strongest, most loyal digimon partner in the Digital World. Neomnimon is ten times better than you ever were."

"Ken, that… that hurts."

"Oh really? I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way at all."

TK couldn't stand anymore of this. The Emperor was pissing him off. How could someone be so cruel to a digimon? It wasn't even just digimon the Emperor was cruel to. Ken had whipped TK and had him as his puppet to do whatever he wanted done. Yet, despite all the evil inside Ken, Wormon saw something else. TK didn't know about Ken and Wormon's past, but Ken must not have always been as evil as he was. To see Wormon try so hard to get at Ken… they must have gone through a lot together. And for Ken to completely forget about all of it and fill it with all this bitterness and hatred…

"Rhinomon, let's end this."

The Emperor simply laughed. "You think you can defeat me? Don't you realize how outnumbered you are? I have Airdramon, Monochromon, and Unimon. Not to mention Neomnimon, who you will never be able to beat on his own. You don't stand a chance."

As much as he hated to admit it, he was right. Rhinomon was strong and TK had faith in him, but he sure didn't like their odds. Neominmon did look… well, unstoppable. Even the other three digimon seemed to be too much for Pegasusmon. And, not to be mean, but Wormon didn't seem like he was going to be able to help much at all. He hated to admit it, but the situation seemed hopeless.

Suddenly his digivice started glowing. He took it out of his pants pocket and saw the screen was glowing. Then, a holograph image of the digicore appeared from the digivice. He had completely forgotten about the digicore. As he stared at the digicore, he remembered something Gennai said.

_"__This digi-core will give both of you much more strength. You will be able to fight digimon on your own TK. You will be stronger, quicker, and wiser. And Patamon, you will be much stronger as well as being able to digivolve into ultimate again."_

Suddenly that digicore was pretty tempting. Was it too late to take the digicore? Because, by the looks of it, it was their only chance of surviving this day. He would have his memory back. He would be able to keep his promise with Wormon. But then an image of his brother appeared in his head. Matt would have to live without him, and the way his brother had reacted when he saw him showed that he really meant a lot to Matt. Could he do that to his brother, who had looked so hard and finally found him? Then again, Matt wouldn't be happy if he was under the control of the Emperor again.

TK shook his head in frustration. Why did everything have to be so difficult? Nothing in his life had come easy for him. He lost his memory and couldn't even remember his friends or his own family. Well, the family that was still alive, anyways. And now, the only way he could get out of this situation was if he took the digicore. But even that would cause a lot of pain, especially on his brother.

"There's another way."

TK gasped as his body felt like it was doused in ice cold water. He looked around him and saw that everything had suddenly lost its color. His partner, Wormon, the Emperor, everything was still there, but they were all dull and colorless. He instantly recognized this place, but he didn't know why that was, thanks to memory… well, lack thereof.

The voice was familiar too, but he couldn't place a voice with a face. What he did know, however, was that this voice meant trouble. He willed himself to try and get out of this place… but nothing happened. He was stuck.

"Come… To the ocean."

"Wh… What ocean? Who are you?"

"Look behind you."

He instantly turned and fear overtook him.

"TK watch out!"

He shook his head and his eyes opened wide as a huge fireball was shot in his direction. He watched, frozen in shock, as the attack closed in on him quickly. Then, something hit him hard in the knees pushing him out of the way of the attack. He landed hard on the ground, but quickly sat up and saw Wormon getting back up to his feet.

"Wormon… th… thanks."

"There's no time for thanks! Your partner is no match for these digimon. He's going to get himself hurt if we don't do something."

TK nodded. He did his best to get that… experience out of his head. He looked at his partner and saw that Wormon was right. Rhinomon wasn't able to attack because he was too busy dodging attacks. There were too many digimon, and Rhinomon wasn't strong enough to take on all of them. It was only a matter of time before Rhinomon got hit and was hurt. He remember what he swore to himself: don't let anyone risk their lives to save yours. And how was that holding up? He had his life saved twice now. Then he remembered the image of Angemon sacrificing himself so many years ago against Devimon. He shook his head. No. No one else was going to sacrifice their lives to save him anymore. He was going to stand and fight his own battles. He pulled out his digivice and the image of the digicore burst.

Eight beams of light shot out from where the digicore was. Blue, orange, red, green, pink, purple, and gray beams headed straight for the television and disappeared. As he watched them go he barely had time to see a yellow beam fly straight at him. He gasped as it struck him, but he did not feel anything. Instead, his digivice started shaking and Rhinomon was glowing. TK watched in awe as his partner digivolved into a form he hadn't seen yet. When the light from the digivolution dimmed down, he saw that his partner had become a magnificent-looking angel with a purple helmet and eight shining, silver wings.

"P… Patamon? Is that you?"

"Yes, but I am MagnaAngemon now. This is my ultimate form."

He nodded and realized that the other beams of light were meant for the other digidestineds. Now they all would be able to digivolve into their ultimate forms, at least according to Gennai. That didn't help them, though, because they weren't here.

"It doesn't matter how many times you digivolve, you will never beat Neomnimon!" the Emperor shouted angrily.

"We'll just see about that. Go get them MagnaAngemon!"

MagnaAngemon nodded before taking to the air dodging a charging Monochromon easily.

"Aurora Beam!"

MagnaAngemon formed a purple energy sword with his right hand and pointed it towards Monochromon. A burst of energy shot out from the sword and hit dead on with the dark spiral. The spiral instantly destroyed.

"Aerial Attack!"

MagnaAngemon quickly dove out of the way of the attack which TK saw was heading straight for him and Wormon. He grabbed the digimon and ran out of the way of the attack. He heard the attack explode and he was shot forward. He didn't let go of Wormon, though, and he landed hard on his shoulder, eventually skidding to a stop. He bit his lip because of the pain in his shoulder, but he couldn't worry about that right now. MagnaAngemon may need his help.

"Are… are you ok Wormon?" he said as he set the digimon down and slowly got to his feet, wincing every time his shoulder moved.

"I'm fine, are you?"

"I'm… fine," he said as he finally got to his feet. When he looked up he saw that Unimon was gone, Neomnimon and MagnaAngemon were fiercely battling, and the Emperor was watching the battle with a look of… enjoyment? The Emperor liked watching these two digimon fight like this?

"Wormon, we have to do something!"

"Yes, but what can we do? I'm not strong enough to battle, and, no offense, there's not much that you can do, and there's no one else..."

"That's it! We need the others!" he said as he hurriedly pulled out the rectangular device his brother had given him before leaving the Digital World. Did he call it a D-Terminal? He shook his head, that didn't matter right now.

He typed out the message before sending it to the other digidestineds. He looked up at the battle and saw what looked like a standstill. MagnaAngemon had stopped one of Neomnimon's claws with his energy sword and was struggling to keep it from striking him. Then Neomnimon swung his other claw at MagnaAngemon which sent him right into a tree. MagnaAngemon had no time to rest, though, as Neomnimon shot the horn that was on his head, which TK realized was a missile, right at MagnaAngemon. He quickly got up and flew out of the way of the attack. The missile exploded causing several trees to get on fire.

"Your friends better come fast. I don't know how much more of this MagnaAngemon can handle."

And as he continued watching the fight, he hoped that his friends would be here soon because Wormon was right. It was only a matter of time before MagnaAngemon was bested.

* * *

Matt sat on his couch. His father wasn't home which wasn't anything new. Ever since they heard that his mom had died and TK had disappeared he had been working nonstop. Of course, this left him to do just about everything around the house. Because of that, their house was a mess. He wasn't one who enjoyed cleaning up after themselves. There was a huge mountain of dirty dishes in the sink and… let's just say that the place was not neat at all.

"Matt, are you ok?" Gabumon asked as he sat down next to him.

"I'm fine Gabumon," he said unconvincingly.

"You don't sound so 'fine'." Great, why couldn't he put on a happy face and hide his emotions as well as other people did.

When he didn't say anything, Gabumon continued, "Is it about TK?"

Matt winced at the mention of his brother's name. He had finally got to see his brother. After so many long, tiring weeks or worrying and searching for his brother, he had finally found him. But his memory was gone. TK was four years older from the last time he saw him. He no longer was the little, happy, hopeful kid that he used to be. TK was twelve years old, but when Matt had looked at him he seemed to be much older. He didn't have that hopeful smile that always made Matt's day when TK was a kid. In fact, this new TK seemed like a completely new person. And, in a way it was a new person.

Ever since hearing from the Emperor that TK's memories were lost, he wanted to believe that it wasn't true. He used to think there was no way TK could have possibly lost his memories. But, as he finally got to see today, it was true. TK didn't remember anything in his life. Well, that wasn't true. He knew bits and pieces of his past because of the little bit Patamon had been able to tell him, but it wasn't the same. He didn't remember the experiences, the friendships, or even the person he used to be. Like he said before, TK was basically a new person. And Matt was afraid that the old TK would never return.

He gasped as a blue beam of light flew right towards him. He felt the digivice in his pocket shaking and saw it glowing. After a couple seconds, though, the light was gone and everything was back to normal.

"Wh… what was that, Gabumon?"

"I don't know, but it looked like your crest."

"My crest? But we gave them up four years ago, didn't we?"

"Yes, but… maybe I'm wrong. It just reminded me of your crest."

Then the phone started ringing. Matt jumped up and quickly picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Matt! It's me, Tai. Hey, did you just have, like, a beam of light hit you?"

"That happened to you too!?"

"Yeah, to me and Kari. What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, but Gabumon said it reminded him of the crests."

"Really? That's what Agumon… what Kari? What is it?"

Matt could hear Kari's voice on the other side. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but she sounded worried.

"Listen, Matt. TK just sent out a message saying he's in trouble and…"

"WHAT?!"

"…needs us to come back to the Digital World. We're going to Izzy's to meet up."

"K, I'll be right there."

"See you…"

Matt didn't wait to hear Tai finish. He hung up the phone and ran to the door. He put his shoes on and told Gabumon to follow him. TK may not be the same little kid that he knew and loved, but he was still TK. He was still his brother, and he was going to save him no matter what.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Ok, so another chapter. Some more digidestineds introduced, and Mimi is brought back! Umm... not the best of all written chapters, but I liked it. It was easy to write, but at the end of it I got kind of tired of it and I think that affected the writing. Either way, though, I hope you like it. We're reaching the end, slowly but surely. Anyways, thanks to all of you reviewers! Please keep leaving reviews... if you want to that is. Nothing's going to happen if you don't, but I love it when I get reviews! Anyways, I'm starting to ramble on. I hope you all like this chapter!

* * *

Chapter 34:

It was a beautiful day in New York City. The sun was shining brightly in the sky. There were no clouds at all. A nice cool breeze kept it from feeling too warm outside. It was perfect.

Yet there was something wrong about New York that she hadn't been able to shake off. New York had tons of people, but that didn't bother her. She had been able to make friends easy enough and even found other digidestineds, but she still didn't feel at home while she was in New York. She realized that that was the problem. New York was not her home. Her parents had said that they would make this city their new home, but it just wasn't working for Mimi. Odaiba was her true home. It was where she grew up and where her friends were. Odaiba was her true home.

She was taken out of her thoughts as she remembered she wasn't alone. She looked to her two friends, Michael and Willis, who looked back at her smiling. They definitely had made New York a lot more bearable. Her parents had been focusing on finding work ever since they got in New York, so she had a lot of alone time. That was where Michael and Willis came in. She loved walking around the city with them, taking in the sights, and simply just talking. Michael told her about how he and his partner, Betamon, had defeated a Gorillamon who had appeared in New York around the same time as Myotismon in Odaiba. She had to have heard that story over a million times. Willis on the other hand hadn't gone on any adventures. His digimon, yes he had more than one which she found unfair, had hatched from a single digi-egg that had appeared to him a long time ago. He always told about the funny things Terriermon and Lopmon would do.

At the time, Willis was talking about something. She didn't know what it was though for which she felt bad, but she just had so much on her mind. She got back from Odaiba no more than a couple of days ago in which time she finally met the Digimon Emperor, she saw TK for the first time in four years even though he was under the control of the Emperor, and she nearly died facing some pretty nasty Minotaurmon. All in all, though, it was great being back in Odaiba and the Digital World. It made her feel like a kid again, and it brought back so many memories of their adventures which made her feel even worse about being stuck in New York. She was cut off from everything. Her friends, what was going on in the Digital World. She was always the last to know anything that was happening. It made her feel out of the loop, as if nobody needed her. And to be honest, even when she was with her friends it felt like nobody needed her. No one really wanted to talk to her, they always treated her as if she didn't know anything. Well, she was going to change that. How, exactly, she didn't know, but she was going to prove to her friends that she wasn't just some nobody who doesn't know anything. She is the great, powerful, Princess Mimi.

"Mimi watch out!"

She was too caught up in her thoughts to have any time to react. Out of nowhere a green beam of light was racing right towards her. She braced herself as the light came into contact with her, but she didn't feel anything. She heard and saw her digivice shaking furiously and glowing in her pocket, but after a couple of seconds it stopped. She was just about to ask what that was before her D-Terminal started beeping. She hurriedly took it out and found she had a message from Matt. She opened it up curiously and saw that it said,

"Come back to the Digital World now! I need your help! –TK"

She wasn't expecting that. She gasped as she read the message, and it took her awhile before she realized just what it meant. TK was back? At first she was upset that no one had told her, but then she was happy as she realized that that meant they had finally found him. She heard from the Emperor that TK had lost his memories, and to be honest she didn't think they would find him, but they did find him. But he was in help! This was her chance to prove to everybody just how useful she could be! She was going to be the one to save the day, and in doing so she was finally going to see TK again! She instantly flipped around and ran as fast as she could towards her house.

She didn't look back, she didn't stop running even though she was getting tired. She was going to do this!

After what seemed like forever she finally reached her house and opened the front door. She ran into the house yelling,

"Palmon… Palmon!" she managed between her heavy breaths.

"Mimi what is it? Is something wrong?" her partner asked.

"We… need… to… get… to… the Digital World RIGHT NOW!" she said as she finally managed to get her breathing under control.

"What? Why?"

"I'll explain later. Let's go!"

She ran up the stairs and entered her room. Her room was plastered with posters of her most famous actors and singers which left almost no room for her to see the beautiful pink walls. She didn't have time to admire her room, though. She went straight up to her computer pulling out her digivice. She was just about to say 'Digi-port open' when she heard voices following her up the stairs.

"Mi..mi! What the HECK are you doing?" Michael asked, clearly annoyed and out of breath.

"Seriously…give us a… afair warning next time you dash across all of New York."

"Oh, I'm sorry you guys, but we need to get to the Digital World like right now!"

"What?"

"Why?"

"I'll explain later. Let's just go!"

"Wait a second, we don't have our partners with us!" Michael said, still annoyed.

"And I don't have my digivice with me either."

Mimi sighed, "Well hurry up and go get them! It sounds like we'll need all the help we can get. And HURRY!"

Her two friends looked at each other rolling their eyes before dashing out of the room. She sighed again as she sat on her bed.

"What's wrong Mimi?" Palmon asked.

"Well, we were just walking around the city like we usually do when all of a sudden a green light hit me. My digivice started shaking and glowing, but then it stopped. And then I got a message from TK saying that he's in trouble and needs our help right away."

"TK? You mean they finally found him?"

"I guess so. I just wish they would've told me sooner."

"I'm sure they would've if they could've. You're an important part of this group Mimi. They need you."

"Thanks Palmon," she said while smiling at her partner.

She waited for what seemed like forever, but according to her watch it was only ten minutes, before Michael and Willis ran into the room. Michael was carrying his partner, Betamon, and Terriermon and Lopmon were on sitting on Willis's shoulders.

"It's about time!" she said while standing up, "Let's go now. Digi-port open!"

And as the white light from her computer surrounded all of them she wore a smile. She was finally going to show everybody just how useful she could be.

* * *

"Izzy, let's get going!" Matt said anxiously. He had been waiting at Izzy's for over fifteen minutes waiting for everybody to arrive. He had sprinted as fast as he could to Izzy's house and was one of the first few there save for Tai and Kari. They were still waiting for Sora, Joe, Davis, Yolei, and Cody.

"Not without Sora and the others!" Tai said quickly. This only caused him to grow even more upset. Out of all of the others' names, he had to mention Sora's. It only reminded him of how he and Sora were not dating; Sora was dating stupid Tai.

"I knew we shoudn't have left him there alone! He could be in trouble, or injured, or…" he couldn't even bring himself to say what he was thinking. He simply couldn't lose his brother. TK was the only thing that was keeping him somewhat sane. If he was gone, then Matt would flip.

"TK will be fine. Patamon is strong. He'll be able to hold off whoever is trying to hurt them until we get there. Besides, Tokomon promised he'd keep TK safe," Gatomon said.

"Yeah Matt, don't worry. He'll be fine," Gabumon added.

He smiled at the two digimon out of thanks, but as he looked around he could tell that the others weren't so sure that TK would be fine. Kari looked like she was about to be sick and Izzy looked just as worried. Tai was simply staring at the door.

"We're here!" a familiar voice rang out as the door flew open. Yolei, Cody, and Sora hurried inside shutting the door behind them, but Davis caught the door before it closed and entered along with Joe.

"Now can we go?!" he asked growing more and more worried with every second they spent here in the real world, not helping TK.

"Yes. Digi…" Tai started, but Yolei cut him off.

"DIGI-PORT OPEN!" she cried out.

"Hey…." Tai complained, but a white light coming from Izzy's laptop stopped him short and sucked them into the laptop taking them to the Digital World.

* * *

TK bit his lip as he watched MagnaAngemon battle. Things weren't going too well. MagnaAngemon had been able to hold his own for the most part, but the most he ever did was block Neomnimon's attacks. He didn't have time to do any attacks of his own. Neomnimon was too quick, strong, and powerful. MagnaAngemon didn't stand a chance against this digimon, and it was only a matter of time….

"Neomnimon, finish him!" the Emperor yelled out angrily.

Neomnimon flew away from MagnaAngemon and put his four claws together forming a huge ball of black energy to form. He thrust his claws forwards sending the attack right at MagnaAngemon. MagnaAngemon tried to fly up out of the way, but the attack was too massive. TK watched as his partner flew back and slammed into a tree and then the black energy ball exploded. Smoke surrounded the battlefield and TK covered his eyes so they wouldn't get hurt. When he figured it was safe to look again, he gasped. MagnaAngemon was gone; Poyomon was on the ground, unconscious. Neomnimon was slowly walking towards the digimon. The Digimon Emperor had a huge smile across his face.

"Yes. Yes! YES!"

"Poyomon!"

TK cried out and sprinted for his partner. He faintly heard Wormon yelling at him probably to stop and that Neomnimon would kill him too, but he didn't care. All that he had was MagnaAngemon, Poyomon, whoever his partner was. He may not have his memory back, but he knew for certain that he loved his partner. Without him, he wouldn't be able to live on. His partner had been with him every step of the way, trying to get his memory to come back, never backing out even though it would've been easier. His partner had risked his life countless of times for him, and TK wasn't about to let his partner die. Especially to the hands of the Digimon Emperor.

He dropped to his knees as he finally reached his partner. He scooped him up in his arms, tears falling from his eyes.

"Poy.. Poyomon? Are you ok buddy?"

Then Poyomon started fading in and out. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't. Somehow he knew that Poyomon was dying.

"No! Poyomon! Don't leave me… again."

The memory of Angemon deteriorating in the battle against Devimon came back to his mind as he closed his eyes. At first Angemon was floating in the air dying… the next he was… gone.

He opened his eyes and saw that Poyomon wasn't there anymore. Poyomon was gone. 'NO!' he thought, 'this is NOT happening again!' And with that Poyomon appeared back in his arms. He was still unconscious, but he had finally stopped deteriorating. He breathed a sigh of relief, tears still running down his eyes.

"I wish I wouldn't have had to kill you, digidestined, but you see, I only brought one dark spiral with me and… that digimon over there destroyed it. So, that leaves me no other choice than to kill you. Neomnimon?"

TK didn't look back. He just stared at his partner, smiling. Poyomon was ok. Sure he was scared out of his mind about dying, but Poyomon was ok. That was all that mattered to him. He prepared himself to die, hugging Poyomon tighter, when all of a sudden…

"Needle Spray!"

"Ice Blast!"

"Gargo Laser!"

"Gauntlet Claw!"

He watched as two bunny-looking digimon, a giant cactus wearing red boxing gloves, and a huge, green sea lizard all attacked the unsuspecting Neomnimon. Neomnimon was hit dead on and flew backwards.

"Success! We saved the day!" TK heard a cheery girl cry out.

"No!" the Emperor yelled angrily. TK looked towards the voice and saw a girl who looked like she was in high school but she had pink hair standing next to two blonde guys, one the same as age as Mimi and the other the same age as TK. He recognized the girl despite her outrageous hair from the picture on his computer screen. Was it Mimi? Yeah, that was the girl's name. And although he couldn't really remember her, he was so happy to see her, and those two blonde guys who he was sure he never saw before.

TK watched the three new digimon battling, but saw that Neomnimon was easily beating them. Then he remembered that the others could digivolve to ultimate.

"Mimi!" he called out, "Digivolve to ultimate!"

She looked over at him and was saying something looking confused, but he couldn't hear her over the battle going on. He picked up Poyomon and carefully ran around the fighting digimon and made his way to Mimi and the two unknown guys. As he was sprinting he called out again,

"Digivolve to ultimate!"

This time when she responded he heard him.

"What? Ultimate?"

"Yes!" he said a little quieter as he got closer.

"But our crests…"

"JUST DO IT!"

She looked surprised by his sudden outburst but she pulled out her digivice and yelled out, "Togemon! Digivolve!"

Togemon, the boxing-cactus, turned around towards Mimi before she started glowing. She emanated a white light as she changed forms. When it was done, TK noticed that the new digimon was a lot smaller and a lot less tough looking. Instead of the huge cactus there was a tiny flower-fairy-looking digimon. He wished that the others would hurry up.

"Wow! It's been a long time since I've seen Lillymon."

TK watched the fight, but was surprised to see that Lillymon packed quite a punch along with the sea dragon and the two bunnies. Lillymon could form a canon or something of the sort that looked like it caused significant damage to Neomnimon. Plus, the flower fairy was fast and could dodge most of Neomnimon's attacks. If only MagnaAngemon was still battling… Neomnimon wouldn't stand a chance. He looked down at Poyomon just to make sure he was still there and hadn't deteriorated while he was running, and breathed a sigh of relief when Poyomon was alright, save for being unconscious.

He just then realized how hard his partner was working to save him these past few days. First Pegasusmon was hit by one of BlueMeramon's attacks. Then, he had to battle those Fugamon and BlueMeramon all by himself. And now Neomnimon. He made sure he was going to give Poyomon a long deserved rest before he let him battle again. Nearly three times now his partner had died fighting to protect TK, and he was going to stop that streak. From now on he was going to be more careful about letting his partner fight.

He turned his attention from his partner to Mimi when she suddenly screamed. He tensed up wondering what was wrong, but laughed when she saw her hiding behind one of her boy friends from Wormon.

"Stay away from me!" Mimi screamed.

"I don't think I'm that scary. I just wanted to say hi. These friends of yours aren't very polite TK," Wormon said as he walked up to the worm digimon.

"You don't have to be scared Mimi; Wormon's on our side," he tried to convince her, but she still stayed far away from Wormon.

"Hi Wormon. I'm Willis!" the younger blonde boy said as he walked up to Wormon, "And you must be TK," he said as he walked up to TK.

TK nodded, "Yupp, that's me."

"And Wormon is your partner?"

"No, this guy here is my partner," he said looking down at Poyomon.

"Oh, is he going to be ok?" he asked, concerned.

TK looked back up and smiled, "He should be fine thanks to you guys. You made it just in time."

"Yeah we did!" Mimi cheered carefully running around Wormon to make her way to TK as the other boy walked up to join the group, "We saved the day! Oh, TK, I'm so happy you're ok."

Mimi threw her arms out and brought TK into a tight hug. He did his best to make sure Poyomon didn't get squeezed to death like he felt right then. As she hugged him TK was reminded of his shoulder injury. He bit his lip to hold himself from crying out. After a long minute where Mimi was crying he pulled away and she reluctantly let go. She didn't take her eyes off him, seemingly afraid he might disappear or something. It made him feel uncomfortable, especially since he didn't remember her too well.

Then, a white light surrounded them all. Their eyes widened in shock as nine other people and their digimon partners appeared from the television right beside them. Once he saw who it was, TK smiled at the newcomers.

"You guys made it," he said happily.

"TK!" He recognized his brother's voice and saw him hurry over towards him. Matt looked him over and his eyes stopped when he saw his shirt ripped at his right shoulder. TK looked at it and saw that it looked pretty bad. That part of the shirt was covered with dry blood and his shoulder was scraped up pretty bad. He looked away from his shoulder and looked back at his brother. He smiled as he realized he made the right choice in not taking the digi-core for himself. He would much more try to regain his relationship with his brother than remember it but not be able to see him at all.

"Are you ok," he asked, eyes full of concern.

He simple nodded. Matt took that and looked towards the battling digimon. Lillymon and the other digimon were holding their own, but Neomnimon was sending attack after attack. Plus, Airdramon had joined the battle. They could only hold on for so much longer.

"Gabumon!" Matt called out, "Digivolve."

Gabumon and all the other digimon started glowing as they digivolved and ran in their new forms to join the battle. TK watched the Digimon Emperor look with wide eyes at the charging digimon. For a second, he thought he saw fear in Ken's eyes, but he shook his head and put on his evil smirk.

"Neomnimon, back to the fortress."

Neomnimon stopped mid-attack and suddenly flew off away from the fight. Airdramon followed Neomnimon, but stopped as the Digimon Emperor called out,

"Until next time digidestineds."

The Emperor glared right at TK, but TK sent a glare of his own towards the Emepror. As he did he tried to see what Wormon saw in Ken. All he could see, though, was evil. Darkness, and cruelty were all that he saw, though. The Emperor turned and Airdramon flew off after Neomnimon. TK thought about chasing after him, but he looked down at Poyomon and was reminded that neither of them were in no shape to fight anymore. Then he looked at the other digidestineds. They were watching the Emperor and Neomnimon fly off, and all of them except for Mimi, Willis, and the other blonde guy looked like they were about to pass out from exhaustion at any second. He didn't know what they all had done that day, but it left them all dead tired. The digimon then dedigivolved to their rookie forms and ran to their respected partners.

TK and Matt walked to the rest of the group who were all watching him nervously. Save for Kari. She just seemed glad that he was alright, and as his eyes met hers he beamed right back at her. That was until he saw she was standing next to that goofy-looking kid with the goggles. He looked down at the ground then.

"Umm… who was that digimon," the one TK remembered was named Tai, said.

No one answered, and they all looked at TK, waiting for an answer.

He sighed. He wasn't really in the mood talk, but luckily Wormon saved him.

"That was Neomnimon."

"And who are you?" Kari's boyfriend asked.

"I'm Wormon. I'm Ken's partner."

"And who is this Ken?" the younger girl with the huge glasses piped up.

"He's my partner… well, used to be my partner… I don't know. You know him as the Digimon Emperor."

They all gasped and started turning on Wormon.

"What are you doing here then?"

"Are you working with him?"

"Should we destroy you now?"

"Who's the Digimon Emperor?"

"STOP IT!" He couldn't take it anymore. They all were asking stupid questions and honestly, he was too tired to deal with it. So much had happened that day, and he just wanted it to be over. Especially since it was already dark outside. All he wanted to do was to go home, wherever home was. Sleep in a nice, safe bed and just forget about all that happened today.

They all stared at him. Tai looked a little angry, others seemed worried, Matt seemed concerned, and Willis and the other blonde guy looked confused.

"Look, we can talk about all of this later. Right now the best thing we can do is go back to the real world and rest before Ken, the Emperor, comes back here with Neomnimon."

Everybody just stared at him and he felt uncomfortable. Honestly, he didn't like talking. Especially with all these people around. Sure, they all were supposedly his friends, but the whole 'no memory' thing was a real pain in the…

"I agree with TK. We all have had a long, tiresome day and can use some rest. You all can come over to my house tomorrow and we can talk about all that is going on."

TK tried really hard to remember who was talking… but nothing came to him. He cursed himself for not being able to remember the red-haired kid standing next to the red beetle with large green eyes.

"What about us though?" the older blonde guy who TK didn't know spoke up.

"Yeah, I mean we should head back to New York, but I don't want to be left out of all that's going on," Willis spoke up. TK noticed that he had two similar looking bunny digimon on his shoulders, and he wondered if having two digimon partners was normal, but he shook the thought off.

"And you are?" Matt asked.

"I'm Willis," Willis smiled at the group.

"And my name's Michael," Michael. That was the other blonde's name.

"I take it you are digidestineds too?" the girl with auburn hair spoke up. He probably could've remembered all of their names, but he was too tired to think, honestly.

"They are digidestineds, and they're my American friends," Mimi said.

"So…"

"I have an idea. Willis and Michael can stay with TK and I…" Matt said.

"…And Mimi can stay with me!" Sora finished.

"But, what about our parents…" Willis started.

"Don't worry about it. You can call them and tell them that something came up. Tell them something Digital World related happened…" Joe said.

"My parents don't know about digimon," Michael replied.

"Mine either."

"Well, you can always tell them that you're staying at a friend's house and will be home tomorrow or something," Tai stated.

"I guess so…"

"So it's all settled!" Mimi cheered, "Now, off to Odaiba!"

TK shook his head. He wasn't really paying attention, but he was forced out of his blackout by Mimi's loud, high-pitched voice. He noticed they all were walking towards the television so he followed suit. He stayed towards the back of the group though, trying to avoid everybody. He just was so tired and wasn't really in the mood to deal with people at the moment. He raised his digivice like the rest of the group and a white light surrounded them, and they all were sucked back into the world.


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or the Inheritance Series(by Paolini) reference though I really wish I did.

So, this chapter was kind of fun to write. Nothing much happened, but I think it sort of is the beginning of the last section of this story. The last villains are introduced, well, brought back if I want to be more precise. Anyways, I appreciate all of the reviews, and I hope I can continue to get some more as this story is coming to a close. And... I guess I have nothing else except, here's chapter 35!

* * *

Chapter 35:

White light filled Izzy's room as the laptop's black screen flashed and dumped the world-travellers onto the floor. TK landed hard on his shoulder and bit down hard on his tongue to keep from screaming out. Luckily, though, he was in the back of the group so when they landed on the floor he was on top. He quickly jumped off of the dog pile as the others were screaming out protests.

"Get off! Get off! Get off!"

"I think I'm allergic to being squished to death."

"Get the… just get off me!"

It took a while but they all managed to get up. They were all standing shoulder to shoulder though because Izzy's room wasn't exactly ideal for thirteen people and their digimon partners. And then the door to Izzy's room opened and TK saw a confused woman standing there.

"Izzy, how did you…? Where did all of these people come from," the woman asked.

"I'll tell you later, but right now all these people need to get out of my room!" the red-haired kid.

As they walked out of the room and into Izzy's family room, the woman, Izzy's mother TK assumed, was asking them,

"Do you guys want any snacks? I just made a batch of brownies, but I don't think there is enough. I should go make something up for you kids."

With that she went off to the kitchen and started making whatever it was she was going to make. Izzy watched her go off shaking his head.

"Mom," he called out, "They aren't…" but he gave up as she went on without even looking back at him. He sighed before turning to the rest of the group.

"Ok, so we all will meet back here tomorrow, right?"

"Right!" they cheered.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow then," the littlest of the group said. TK didn't know the boy's name nor did he recognize the ten year old boy. He figured he was one of the new digidestineds Matt had told him about earlier. Had it really been the same day? It didn't seem like it.

The girl with the huge glasses followed him out of the apartment saying, "Cody wait! Bye everybody."

Matt was the next one to speak up, "We better get going too. Michael, Willis, TK, you guys ready?"

"Yupp!" Michael and Willis said while TK simply nodded. He really wanted to go home, or at least somewhere he could call home. For as long as he could remember, which wasn't saying much, he had been wandering about without a place to stay. He was happy that tonight was going to be different.

As he took a step to follow Matt, he heard someone call out his name.

"TK…"

He turned around and someone put their arms around him. He couldn't see who it was, but he knew by the voice that it was Kari. He hesitantly put his arms around her as the others were watching them. The goggle-head was practically glaring at him.

"I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have let you stay there. You could've got hurt, or worse."

He was about to say that he did get hurt and that she was hurting him right now. His shoulder was very sensitive, but he didn't. Instead he just held her, careful to avoid that boy's glare.

"Come on TK!" he heard his brother call out, annoyed. He drew away from Kari who reluctantly let go. He saw she had tears in her eyes, but he didn't know what to do. So he simply turned around and walked out of Izzy's apartment, closing the door behind him.

Matt, Willis, and Michael were waiting for him outside with their partners. Michael was talking to his partner, a green marine creature with a red fin on its head. Willis was giving him a strange look and his two digimon gave him a wink. Matt was looking at him with a look of sympathy.

"Thatta boy TK! You get her!" Willis said.

He instantly felt his face grow warm as he was sure it was turning a bright red. He shook his head at Willis which only caused him and his partners to laugh.

"I wish I didn't have to tell you this, TK, but Kari's taken," Matt told him.

"I figured as much," he replied.

With that they all turned to walk out of Izzy's apartment building, but then the door to Izzy's apartment opened up again.

"Wait u… Oh, you all are right here."

They turned around and saw Wormon running, well, crawling, as fast as he could to catch up with them. TK smiled as the digimon finally made it to them.

"Can I stay with you all?" Wormon asked looking up at TK.

TK watched his brother think about it, but Matt eventually sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just don't know how much room we're going to have."

Wormon passed it off, "It's ok, I won't take up much room."

Now they walked out of the apartment and no one else stopped them. Now that they were outside TK was able to finally see Odaiba, the place he grew up in. He was devastated, though, as he saw building upon building destroyed. Sirens filled the night. The streets were filled with worried looking people. Police cars and firetrucks shone their flashing lights. This was not what TK was expecting at all.

"What happened here?" Michael asked.

"Digimon," Matt said simply.

"What do you mean digimon?" one of Willis's partners, the white one with green stripes, said sounding offended.

"I mean evil digimon; not like you guys," Matt quickly replied. The two bunny digimon looked relieved.

"But how did they get here, and what exactly were they doing here?" Willis looked troubled.

"I don't know how they got here, but they were look…" Matt stopped himself and looked at TK before sighing, "They were looking for you, TK."

"What?" he said, confused.

Matt seemed like he didn't want to talk about it, but he continued anyways, "One… one of them said they were… they were going to… kill you."

TK looked around the city again. Odaiba was in destruction. Surely people got hurt, and now he understood why the others all seemed so dead tired. He didn't know how long they had been, but they obviously were fighting these 'evil digimon.' To say he felt terrible was an understatement. All of this destruction was… his fault.

Wormon spoke up, a hint of anger in his voice, "Was it Ken?"

"Ken?"

"The Digimon Emperor," Wormon quickly added.

"No, it couldn't have been. The digimon were evil, yes, but they did not have any dark rings or spirals on. They were of their own free will," Matt replied.

"They had to have been working for someone. Digimon don't just come to the real world destroying everything in sight just for nothing. At least I don't think so," Michael said.

"You're right, but I haven't the slightest clue as to who they could be working for. I don't like all of this, though. It reminds of when Myotismon came to the real world looking around for Kari, saying he was going to kill her."

TK remembered Patamon telling him about this in the airport, which seemed so long ago. Supposingly there was this evil digimon named Myotismon who searched around the real world for Kari, the eighth digidestined, causing trouble. He concentrated as hard as he could to remember anything from that time, but he failed.

"That's right," Michael said, nodding. Matt looked at him with a confused look, and Michael explained, "Mimi told us about Myotismon. Actually, about the same time he was in Odaiba, many digimon came to New York. That was when I first met Betamon," and as he said that he looked down to his partner and the two of them smiled to each other.

TK was mad that he did, but he felt jealous of Betamon and Michael. The two of them remembered everything that had ever happened to them. They remembered the first time they met, ever. Sure TK had learned to love Patamon, Poyomon, whomever, but he didn't remember anything the two of them had went through. The first time they met, nothing. The only thing he remembered clearly was the battle of Angemon vs. Devimon, and TK knew too well how that battle ended.

The others continued to talk, but TK wasn't listening. He was tired, and he had too much on his mind. His mood wasn't helped as they continued walking around the city seeing more and more destruction. Also, the fact that the others were so happy while he felt… terrible, wasn't exactly comforting.

He nearly jumped as something he was holding started moving. A smile came on his face, though, when he realized it was Poyomon finally waking up.

"Poyo! Poyo!" the digimon said happily, looking up at TK.

Tears came to his eyes, but he held them in. Poyomon was ok; he felt so relieved.

Willis, Michael, and Matt smiled at him before Matt turned and said, "Ah, finally here!"

TK looked up at the apartment building and was happy to see that the building was in no way harmed. The four of them, their partners, and Wormon walked into the apartment building. Matt led them up the stairs and stopped in front of a room. TK was hoping he would gain some sense of familiarity as they kept walking, but he had nothing, as always.

He was surprised to see the door was unlocked as Matt turned the knob and pushed the door open. The apartment seemed to be a little bigger than Izzy's, but that might've been due to the fact that there weren't thirteen kids and their digimon partners trying to jam into the place. TK looked around and saw a man sitting down on the couch reading a newspaper.

He felt a twinge of nervousness as he realized the man sitting down was his father. His dad got up out of his seat, setting the newspaper down, and opening his mouth in surprise as he saw all the people and digimon in his room.

"Matt, just cause I told you you couldn't bring any girls home doesn't mean…"

He stopped, though, as his eyes landed on TK. TK forced a little smile as his dad slowly walked over to him.

"T… TK?" he said in shock.

He nodded and his dad extended his arms. TK quickly set Poyomon down on the table next to him before embracing his father. Once again, sadness came to him as he tried hard, but couldn't remember his father. He felt his father shaking, though. TK didn't realized how much of an effect he had on his brother and father. He could tell that they had both been scared, worried out of their minds that they would never see him again, and then he could practically feel all the relief inside his father as he hugged him tighter. Despite his lack of memory, TK smiled. His family had hope he would come back. The others may have given up on him, but his family hadn't. Slowly, the negativity inside him dispersed.

Suddenly a white light shone in the room. His father pulled out of the embrace quickly and TK looked for the source of the light. He found it, and beamed at his partner, who had just digivolved to Tokomon.

His father laughed and looked back to TK with a smile on his face.

"I'm so glad you're ok son."

TK nodded, and then his dad looked at the others.

"And you all are digidestineds too, I take it?" his father asked.

"Yeah, I'm Michael, and this is Betamon."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Betamon added.

"And I'm Willis. These two are Terriermon and Lopmon," Willis said, indicating which one was which.

"Hi mister," Terriermon said receiving a smack on the head from Lopmon.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lopmon added.

"What was that for?" Terriermon said angrily.

"Guys, not now," Willis pleaded. TK figured the two digimon fighting had to be a common occurrence.

"I'm Wormon," Wormon added when his father looked down at the bug digimon.

"Right. Um, you all look hungry. I don't have anything made, but I could order a pizza…" his father started.

He was interrupted by the digimon, mostly Terriermon and Lopmon, cheering out, "PIZZA!"

"Ok, ok, pizza it is," his father said as he walked over to the phone and picked it up. Matt and Gabumon collapsed on the couch. Terriermon and Lopmon both jumped off Willis's shoulder for an empty recliner and their heads hit each other. They looked at each other with mock anger before laughing. TK looked over at Tokomon and put his arms out as Tokomon jumped at him. He caught his partner who was laughing.

"Tokomon, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"For... for today. I made you fight without thinking about the consequences. You could've got hurt, or, I could've… lost you… again."

"TK, you didn't make me fight. I fought because I want to protect you. I won't ever let anything hurt you. You're my best friend and I love you."

"I… I love you too Tokomon… but…"

"No buts TK!" he said smiling. TK couldn't help but smile back at his partner before he jumped out of his arms towards Terriermon and Lopmon who were playing around. Matt motioned for him to sit next to him on the couch, so he walked over and plopped down on the couch.

"So, what happened to your shoulder?" Matt asked.

"I landed hard on it trying to avoid one of Neomnimon's attacks. It's fine though."

"You need to clean it up, though. Come on," Matt said while standing up and walking off. He led him to the bathroom where he got a towel out. Then he walked out and came back with clothes.

"Here's a change of clothes. No offence, but you stink. Take a shower bro."

And with that he walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him. TK sighed in relief. He hadn't taken a shower, well, for as long as he could remember. He hadn't thought about it, but now that he did he could feel the grime on his body. He also could smell, and he saw what his brother meant. He turned on the water and waited for it to get warm. He stripped down before walking into the shower.

To say it was relaxing was an understatement. After a very long time, he finally turned the water off. He took the towel, dried himself off, and put on the change of clothes. As he did this, he was able to see himself in the mirror. He never really thought about what he looked like, and honestly, all he could seem himself as was the little kid that was in the picture on his computer back in France. He was able to see who he truly was.

His hair was still a messy blonde, his eyes were very blue, but he had changed a lot since he was younger. He looked more… serious. The kid in the picture looked like a happy-go-lucky boy who was filled to the brim with hope and light. Now, though, the "little-kid-ness" was gone from him. His face looked stern, like he didn't smile very much. He was very skinny, much skinnier than he should be. And then his shoulder was cut open. All the blood washed off, but it still was scratched up pretty bad. Ultimately, he had grown up, and he couldn't help but miss the happy-go-lucky personality that he must have had as a child, though he didn't remember.

He walked out of the bathroom and saw the others already chowing down on the pizza. As he looked at the food, he realized just how hungry he was.

"TK! I saved you some over here!" Tokomon said. He had a whole box of pizza to himself and was standing protectively over the last three slices of pizza that were receiving hungry stares from the other digimon. TK laughed as he saw his partner's face doused in pizza sauce.

"Thanks bud," he said as he sat next to his partner. He picked up a slice and took a big bite. The pizza was almost as awesome as the shower felt. It was one of the greatest tastes in the world. He finished off the slice with a couple more bites before picking up another slice.

It didn't take long before they all had finished their pizza, and now were simply relaxing. TK knew his father was dying to talk to him, probably about all that had happened to him and stuff like that. He didn't want to, but he prepared himself to tell his story as his dad spoke up,

"I think we should call it a night. You all look dead tired." TK breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dibs on my room!" Matt yelled before running off to a different room of the apartment followed by Gabumon. His dad shook his head and continued,

"Sorry this place isn't bigger. It's not really meant for a lot of people, or digimon, but I do have some sleeping bags for you guys," he said turning away and walking off to a different room. He came back with two rolled up sleeping bags under his arms. He threw them at Michael and Willis who caught them. "I'll be in my room if you need me. Good night," he said. His eyes stopped on TK and he smiled up at his father. His dad smiled back before turning the lights off and shutting the door to his room.

"What a day," Willis said while unrolling his sleeping bag. Michael followed suit saying,

"You got that right, but it was fun. I like all this adventuring and stuff."

"Me too; I'm starting to like all of this," Willis said laying down on the bean bag.

"Will you guys be quiet," Terriermon said with a yawn.

Lopmon yawned too, adding, "Yeah, we're trying to sleep here.

Willis laughed, saying, "Fine, good night you two. Good night everyone."

There were a few mumbled "good nights" from the other digimon around the room. And then all was silent. TK layed down on the couch as thoughts filled his head. He thought about his family, his brother and father. He thought about Willis, Michael, and all of the other digidestineds, mostly Kari, though. He thought about Wormon and Ken, or the Digimon Emperor. Then, he thought about Tokomon. It took a while where he layed in the dark room listening to nothing other than the other occupant's breathing, but his tiredness finally got the better of him as he yawned and shut his eyes, his mind shutting off for the night.

* * *

Daemon was watching Dragomon using what he liked to call "scrying." He could create a sort of dark portal that allowed him to watch whomever he wanted and see what they were doing. It was a very useful ability, especially when it came to matters of seeking ultimate power.

He laughed at Dragomon's efforts. The digimon was disposable. Daemon did not believe that Dragomon would be able to defeat the digidestineds, especially since he was so focused on hope. And to think that Dragomon actually believed that he'd be able to beat him, the powerful Daemon, was a joke. Even with the power of hope, Dragomon didn't stand a chance. He was a pathetic digimon, and the most he could do was be a pain to someone. He didn't have the power to destroy the digidestineds. The only reason he ordered Dragomon to go after the digidestineds was so he would be destroyed. There was of course the very unlikely chance Dragomon actually was able to defeat the digidestineds which would mean less work for him, but that wasn't going to happen. Especially with the addition of the new digidestinds from New York.

Yes, Dragomon would be gone in a short amount of time, or maybe he was starting to underestimate Dragomon. As he watched the marine digimon, he saw him talking to his minions, the spirits of the Dark Ocean and a couple digimon including BlueMeramon, Scubamon, and some others. Then he put out his hand and they all started glowing and his vision was covered with black light. He watched with a little interest as the vision cleared and there now longer any shadows or Scubamon. Instead there were five new digimon in the room, not including Dragomon. Even Daemon was surprised by Dragomon's new digimon.

He must have been desperate if he wanted to bring back those five digimon. Which, of course Dragomon was desperate. If he didn't listen to his orders, then he would have to go and destroy Dragomon himself, but Dragomon was giving everything up. He must really believe he had the power to destroy the digidestineds… or maybe that wasn't his plan at all. Maybe he planned on just getting his revenge on the hope child, and would worry about the other digidestineds later when he had hope's power.

Well, Dragomon would have a chance if that were the case. He and the Dark Masters including LadyDevimon definitely could defeat the hope child if he was by himself, but that was going to be the challenge. Could they get the child separated from all of the others? Daemon doubted the other digidestineds would let the hope child out of their sight for too long since he had just got back with them after so long. But it was something he would have to keep his eye on.


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON!

Ok, so this is Chapter 36. And I need to add this, since I see that you can get in trouble if you copy from the original Digimon series/movies. I purposefully made TK's memory exactly like the scene from Episode 52 "Piedmon's Last Jest." Since the original episode is TK's real memory in this story, it only made sense for me to make it exactly like the original season so PLEASE don't try to get me in trouble for copying Digimon Adventure because like I said in the disclaimer I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON! It is 100% not mine and I am not trying to take credit for their work at all!

Sorry, but I really had to stress that and I don't want to get in trouble or anything. Anyways, this is Chapter 36 like I said. Lead-up to a somewhat big chapter and a little foreshadowing going on. I kind of am realizing how hard it is to have so many villains; Dragomon, the Dark Masters, Daemon, AND good ol' Ken Ichi is really starting to get hard to write. I really want to know what you guys think about it and if you think it works or not. And I'd also like to know how you like the character portrayal and the potential couplings. Anyways, I got a whopping two reviews for last chapter so shout out to those two reviewers: The Keeper of Worlds and sharkpedofromverpets. You two are awesome, and thank you for your constant reviews! They mean a lot, really! I hope I can get so more reviews, though I'm not complaining, I'm just saying, nicely, to PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks you guys! Anyways, this was a much longer author's note than intended, sorry about that. Now, here's Chapter 36!

* * *

Chapter 36:

TK never realized how much fun people watching, and even "mon" watching could be until he found himself doing it in Izzy's apartment. He had to memorize everyone's names somehow and doing it this way was a lot more enjoyable. They all were supposed to be discussing a "very important, super secret mission" that was going to be their playbook for destroying the Digimon Emperor who they all had learned was really Ken Ichijouji in the real world. They all seemed to be pretty surprised by that bit, especially the purple-haired, huge-glasses girl… right, her name was Yolei… but it was more fun to call her that other name. _Yolei _seemed devastated by the news, as if this Ken guy was her idol or something. He may have just been imagining it, but he could've sworn he heard her mutter "Now we won't be able to get married anymore."

He wasn't exactly happy about this, though, because now Yolei was trying to get really close to him. Apparently Yolei was going through "a phase," or at least that's the way Kari put it, where she tried to hook up with every cute boy she ever met. TK felt honored about someone thinking he was cute, but he had to bite his tongue to keep him from yelling at Yolei something he would regret in the future.

Anyways, they were talking about that plan, but no matter how hard he tried to pay attention he couldn't. He tried the best he could to get his mind off of the nightmare he had, but he couldn't.

* * *

_He opened his eyes and he had to squint due to the darkness in this place. He had no idea where he was, but wherever it was it was completely silent and very cold. He stood there, not knowing how he had gotten there, when all of a sudden he heard footsteps. The footsteps were echoing and he could tell that whoever it was, they were heading right for him, and they weren't alone either. _

_He was finally able to see and was shocked as a kid version of himself came running right at him followed by another kid looking the same age and Patamon brought up the rear. He recognized the girl; it was Kari as an eight year old, and TK was carrying what looked like a keychain that looked strikingly familiar to his brother, Matt. _

"_You guys need to slow…." He tried but the two kids didn't even seem to notice him standing there. They ran right through him and kept on going, oblivious to the fact that they had just ran through him, yes, _through _him. _

_He decided that he'd follow the little kids and he had to sprint to catch up with them. They pushed a big black door open and he followed them outside to what looked like a balcony. TK and Kari looked scared out of their minds._

"_We just ran out of room," Kari said, holding back tears._

_TK looked horrified saying, "This isn't the escape plan I had in mind."_

_Patamon flew to the ledge of the balcony and TK and Kari followed. _

"_Can we jump?" TK asked leaning over the ledge._

"_It's too far…"_

_He turned when he heard laughter coming from the other side of the black doors, a creepy, terrifying laugh. He knew he didn't want to see what was behind those doors, and he was afraid that he was going to find out soon enough._

"_Well, looks like a dead end! Come be a key chain like you're friend," the creepy voice said, still laughing._

"_We can't just sit here!" Kari said, growing even more anxious._

"_We've got no choice. We have to climb down."_

_He hurried over to the kids, though he knew he wouldn't be able to help them. He looked over the edge of the balcony and agreed with Kari when she said,_

"_It's too high TK! If we slip we're gone-ers."_

"_Kari, we're going to have to try."_

"_Look TK! Where'd that basket come from?" Patamon asked as he turned and saw that a woven basket had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the balcony. It definitely wasn't there just one minute ago._

"_Who put that there?" TK asked running over to the basket. He opened it up, "A rope. We can use it to climb down the side of the mountain."_

_Then all of a sudden the rope started unwinding out of the basket and rose up. The way it moved reminded him of a snake that people put into baskets like the one the rope was in. The rope went straight up to the sky. How the rope did that, exactly, he had no idea._

"_I didn't know you were a snake charmer TK."_

"_Do you think we should climb it?"_

"_I don't know… mom always said not to take candy or rope from strangers."_

_He wondered if his mother had actually said that, or if it was just something the kid version of himself said to try to be funny. He never would have the chance to ask her though, because she was dead, as well as his grandparents._

'_What am I thinking? We have to climb it! Sora told me to be brave no matter how scared I get!' he heard the thought go through his mind._

"_Looks dangerous, you go first," TK said to Kari. He facepalmed and shook his head at himself as a kid. Kari didn't seem to mind though as she grabbed a hold of the rope and started climbing. TK followed her up._

"_That's it Kari! Pretend you're in gym class!"_

_He instantly turned when the doors burst into millions of tiny pieces. When the smoke cleared he saw a clown digimon with a black and white mask laughing. The clown had yellow jester boots, green pants, and a red suit with a blue scarf. On his belt was a bunch of miniature key chains that looked very strangely like the other digidestineds and their partners. Though he knew the digimon couldn't do anything to him because this was a dream or something of the sort, he couldn't help but feel scared. That digimon gave him the creeps._

_Kari screamed as the digimon walked towards them slowly. Patamon flew down with a determined look on his face. _

"_You guys keep climbing, I'll distract him!"_

_Patamon started glowing and changed forms into Angemon. The clown digimon and Angemon then started dueling. The jester took two swords from his back and started swinging them frantically at the angel. Angemon used his yellow rod to block the attacks, but he was having a hard time doing so. The clown jumped back and threw a sword at Angemon who dodged and whipped his rod at the clown hitting him right in the stomach. He smiled, but it was anywhere far from the end. _

"_Hand of Fate!" _

_An orange beam of light flew from Angemon's fist towards the jester who was lying on the ground. He hoped it would be enough to end the digimon, but then,_

"_Clown Trick!"_

_The attack suddenly reversed course and flew right back at an unsuspecting Angemon. The digimon was hit right on by his own attack and flew back. Angemon landed on the balcony, but the jester was already standing right in front of him._

"_Clown Trick!"_

_A ball of yellow energy hit Angemon dead on who flew back yelling in agony. _

"_Angemon NO!" Kari yelled._

"_Trump Sword!"_

_The clown threw five of his swords at the falling angel and he winced at the sound of the swords cutting through Angemon's skin._

"_Don't give up!"_

_But Angemon was falling down from the balcony. He had seen how far of a fall it was, and even though he couldn't help he ran to the edge of the balcony and watched in horror as his partner fell to the ground. Angemon landed with a loud thud, and didn't move. He looked up and watched the kid version of himself crying as he held back tears of his own._

"_Angemon no!"_

"_I'm scared," Kari said._

"_It's ok," TK replied unconvincingly._

'_Great, now Kari's afraid,' the thought blared through his mind, 'I can't let her see that I am too. I've got to be brave.'_

"_Angemon will be fine, "he said with a smile up to Kari, "but you've got to keep on climbing. Don't let that joker, Piedmon, scare you."_

_Piedmon, so that was the freak for a digimon's name._

"_Ok," Kari said with renewed determination as she continued to keep on climbing up the mysterious rope. She reached her hand up, but then a sword came out of nowere slicing the rope. Kari let out a high pitched scream._

"_You've reached the end of your rope," Piedmon said, making his way to start climbing up the rope. Hahahahahaha!"_

_Within no time Piedmon had grabbed TK's leg and TK let out a cry._

"_Sorry if I gave you a wedgie."_

"_Let go of him!" Kari said angrily grabbing onto TK._

"_Let go Kari or he'll get you too."_

"_No, I won't let you go TK."_

"_Sounds like you two are falling for each other," Piedmon said slicing the rope again. He watched as TK and Kari started free-falling towards the ground. _

_Angemon had gotten back up within that time, but he looked bad. He was using that yellow rod to support him, and he had a terrified look on his face. "TK, Kari!"_

_Piedmon had a big smile on his face, laughing all the while. Then the digimon turned and looked right into his eyes and his smile grew even more if that was possible._

"_I'm back you know? And this time I will kill you, child of hope, and you're little girlfriend."_

* * *

"TK? TK!?"

He shook his head. He blushed as he saw everyone's eyes on him. Tokomon was on his lap looking up at him with worry in his eyes.

"Huh?" he asked. He got the memory, or dream, or whatever it was out of his head, but he could still here Piedmon's evil laughter and his promise, 'I'm back you know? And this time I will kill you, child of hope, and you're little girlfriend.' He debated on telling the others about his dream, but he didn't want to add on to their worries. They already were too worked up about Ichijouji.

"We're going to the Digital World… you coming?" Kari asked.

"What? Oh, of course. Yeah, sorry about that," he said putting a smile on. They all laughed and their worry was gone save for Tokomon, Matt, and Kari. They knew something was wrong; how they could possibly know him so well, though, he had no idea. From what they had told him, he was… _different_… from the TK they remembered.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wanted to be the person they remembered. He wanted to go back to being a kid and not go through the serving the Emperor and losing his memory part of his life. But there was no way he could possibly change that. No way he could go back in time and change what had happened. Make a new life for himself, start all over. Nope, there was no possible way to do that.

He grabbed his partner and pulled out his digivice as the rest of them pointed their digivices to Izzy's laptop. Yolei, of all people, was standing right next to him and she smiled at him. He forced a smile back causing Tokomon to laugh. She smiled even wider though and he winced as she screamed out, "DIGI-PORT OPEN!"

* * *

They had been walking for quite a while. Supposingly the first step in bringing down Ken Ichijouji was to find his fortress. Wormon was leading the way along with Veemon and a couple of the other digimon. Tai and Sora were walking together, holding hands and talking quietly to each other with smiles on their faces and laughing occasionally. He didn't know the two of them very well, but he thought they looked like a pretty cute couple.

He didn't know if he should think that way, though. Matt was walking next to him with Gabumon and he kept on sending glares at Tai and looking longingly at Sora. He wondered what he had missed, but he figured it wasn't that important at the moment. Maybe he'd ask Matt about it when they defeated Ken; he didn't look like he wanted to talk about it anyway.

And TK couldn't help but feel the same way Matt did as he kept sneaking glances at Kari who was walking hand-in-hand with Davis just a little bit ahead of them. She didn't look as happy as Sora did, though, and he felt guilty but he was happy about that fact. Kari kept on sending worried glances his way and he would look away when she did. A couple times their eyes met, despite his efforts for that not to occur, and they would awkwardly smile at each other.

Willis, Michael, Mimi, Joe, and Izzy all were walking in a line. Michael was standing next to Mimi and he thought the two of them must have been dating the way they both laughed at what each other said and… they just seemed perfect. But, then there was Joe who looked mad whenever Mimi laughed at something Michael said. Izzy seemed to be oblivious to everything as he talked with his partner, Tentomon, but TK saw the way he blushed when Mimi would talk to him, which wasn't very often.

Then there was Cody, the little kid who looked about the same age TK did in that dream/memory thing. He was walking next to his partner, a yellow armadillo. The little kid seemed to be a quiet type, not really saying much in front of the whole group, but he had been very polite talking to TK. Cody had taken it upon himself to make sure he introduced himself to TK the moment he arrived at Izzy's. They shook hands, but that was his first time seeing the kid so it would be hard to judge just what kind of person he was based on that.

That was the group. These were the people who were going to fight the Digimon Emperor. He laughed at the diversity this group had, but he could say he wouldn't want to change anybody in this group, save for maybe Davis. They all liked each other, and despite their differences they all clicked together. He couldn't help but feel that he was the odd ball in this group… the eleventh wheel per say. He just couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't belong.

As they were walking through the Digital World, he suddenly heard that joker Piedmon's laughter echo loudly. He tensed up and looked around him. He was certain he heard Piedmon close by, but he couldn't find any sign of the clown.

"TK, what's wrong," Tokomon asked worriedly.

Suddenly the image of Angemon flying through the air, hitting the ground hard, and not getting back up came to his mind. He and Kari were falling to the ground at a high-speed.

"TK!" Tokomon said louder.

He was taken out of his thoughts and shook his head. For some reason he was panting and he shivered as a chill went through his body.

"I… I'm fine…"

"TK! I may not know you as well as I want to, but I am not dumb. Just tell us what's wrong."

He took a deep breath and he was about to tell them about the Piedmon memory, but then Yolei called out to everybody, "The Emperor's base! Let's go destroy it and beat up on Ken Ichijouji!"

She went off at a dead sprint followed by Wormon who was frantically trying to keep up with her. Veemon, Hawkmon, Gomamon, Palmon, Betamon, Terriermon, Lopmon, Agumon, and Biyomon all ran as fast as they could towards the fortress. The rest of them simply picked up their pace as they neared the fortress.

He felt a pang of remembrance as he thought about how he had been held prisoner in there. When Ken figured out he had broken free of the dark spiral's powers, he had whipped him. He still held a grudge on Ken for that, but he didn't know if he could go in the fortress and put Tokomon at risk again. He felt terrible for all the times that he clearly remembered making Tokomon fight and getting severely hurt and almost dying, and then there were all the times he didn't remember like the fight with Piedmon and Devimon. There must have been countless of other times from his previous adventure where he had put Tokomon in trouble, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he continued to do so. It was only a matter of time before someone wasn't able to save them and Tokomon actually… he couldn't say it.

They finally caught up with all of the digimo and Yolei who were standing underneath the floating rock that was the Emperor's fortress.

"It's about time you all made it. Now, let's go kick some Digimon Emperor as…"

"Right. I guess it's time," Tai said.

Sora nodded, "Let's do this."

TK suddenly remembered something, which was new for him, "Hold on a second." They all watched him pull out his digivice and he pointed it at Cody, Davis, and Yolei. Three beams of light, gray, blue, and green flew at them. Yolei held back a shriek and Davis looked scared out of his mind while Cody simply looked shocked. Their digivices started glowing and shaking, and then they stopped.

"What was…?" Cody started, but TK cut him off.

"Those were digi-eggs Gennai gave me to give to you guys. Supposingly your partners can digivolve into a new form, and the rest of you can digivolve to ultimate now, except for maybe you two," he said looking at Willis and Michael.

He went to put his digivice back in his pocket when three more beams of light shot out from his digivice, gold, cream-colored, and black. The gold and cream-colored lights hit Willis and the black one shot at Michael.

"I stand corrected," he said as their digivice stopped glowing. The two of them had an excited look on their faces and they high-fived each other.

Izzy looked confused and he opened his mouth like he was about to ask a question, but Matt spoke up first.

"Let's get this over with! I want to go home already."

"I agree," Joe said, "I have to study for my exam tomorrow. I can't fail this exam or I'll have to retake the course."

"Joe!" Mimi said annoyed, but she hit him in the arm playfully and gave him a smile. He smiled back.

"Ok, then, what are we waiting around here for? Veemon?" Davis spoke up.

"Right."

The rest of them called out their partners' names and there was a bright white light as all of the digimon, except for Tokomon, digivolved first to their champion forms (or new armor forms for Davis, Cody, and Yolei) and then to their ultimate forms for everybody else. They were surrounded by ten new, tough looking digimon ready to take on the Digimon Emperor and defeat him once and for all.

"TK, why didn't you let me digivolve? I can't do much as Tokomon you know?"

He couldn't look into his partner's eyes as he said, "Tokomon, we're not fighting this time. We're sitting this one out."

"But…"

"No but's! You have almost died because of me and my stupidity three times now! Three times in the past two days! I can't lose you… again…" he said, tears coming to his eyes.

"TK…"

"No, you're not going to convince me. I can't have you fighting… not now at least."

Tokomon was reluctant, but he seemed to understand. He jumped down from his arms, though, and avoided his eyes.

"TK, what are you doing?" he heard his brother ask.

He was flying up on Angewomon with Kari, but they had turned back. The others were all flying up to the Emperor's fortress. The big metal dragon had already sent a missile at the fortress creating a huge opening for them to enter.

"I'm not going. Tokomon and I will keep watch from outside."

"No, I'm not leaving you alone again! You know what happened last time…"

"I can't fight, Matt. I'm of no use to you guys. I'm not letting Tokomon get into trouble again."

He was about to protest. Kari locked eyes with him though, and she nodded, showing her understanding.

"Angewomon, let's go."

Angewomon started flying up to the fortress with Matt trying to break free of the angel digimon's grasp yelling at Kari all the while. They continued their flight upward, though, and they disappeared inside the fortress along with the others, save for a big red bird, the metal dragon, and a big sea monster with a green shell holding a huge iron hammer. Those digimon were waiting outside, not able to fit inside the small fortress. They seemed annoyed that they couldn't help, but they waited patiently, watching the fortress for any signs of danger.

"Can I at least wait like the…"

"No," he said a little more harshly than he intened. Tokomon turned away and stood facing opposite him. He smiled as Tokomon reminded of a little child being denied a toy he saw in the store that he wanted and then pouting about not getting it. TK chuckled a little bit as he sat down on the soft grass. He looked around the field, and off in the distance a building caught his eye.

"Hey, Tokomon, what's that over there?"

Tokomon turned around slowly, still with a pout on his face, but then his face lit up as he saw what TK was talking about.

"That's Toy Town! You've been there before, you know?" the little digimon said excitedly.

"Of course I have."

Tokomon smiled a little bit, and then a thought came to TK.

"You wanna go on an adventure?"

The little digimon nodded at first, but then looked back at the fortress. "What about the others?"

"They'll be fine. Look, they got a big metal dragon…"

"MetalGreymon,"

"…a huge red bird with a strange mask…"

"Garudamon,"

"…and that weird sea creature-thing with the green shell and the hammer,"

"Zudomon," Tokomon said laughing at TK's lack of memory.

TK feigned anger and the little digimon stopped laughing and looked terrified.

"I'm sorry TK…"

Then he started laughing as a big smile came on his face. Tokomon started laughing as well before suddenly glowing white and changing forms into Patamon. TK smiled at his partner who smiled back before flying over to the three ultimate digimon, MetalGreymon, Garudamon, and Zudomon.

"Hey, me and TK are going to go see ToyTown. Can you guys handle this?"

"Of course we can!"

"Go have fun!"

"And stay out of trouble!" the three digimon responded.

"Ok, be back in a few!" Patamon said cheerily as he flew back towards TK, landing softly on his head.

"Let's go Patamon!" And as they headed for ToyTown all the sadness, fear, and anger he had inside of him the past couple days faded away as it turned into happiness. The best part of this adventure was that he would be able to keep Patamon out of trouble while defeating the Digmon Emperor at the same time. Or so he thought.


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

I'm tired. I should've stopped and wrote this chapter later, but I wanted to get this up for you guys. If it's not a high-quality chapter I'm sorry. A lot of action, though, and sorta cliffhanger. *Insert "thanks for reviewing and please keep reviewing" speech here* Here's chapter 37.

* * *

Chapter 37:

He was furious. He was yelling things at Kari that he probably wouldn't say if he wasn't in the current situation he was in, but he couldn't help himself. TK, the big, to put it nicely, dumby, wasn't coming. Didn't he know what happened the last time he left the group? Or did he _forget _that already? Matt wasn't one-hundred percent sure if his little brother truly lost his memory. Maybe TK just went through so much that he simply was overwhelmed and needed time to recover, and then his memory would come back to him? It didn't matter, though; he should've known that staying by himself again would only lead to more trouble. And they didn't need more trouble.

"Matt," Kari said looking at him with concern but also fear in her eyes. Her voice made him shut his big mouth up and listen. "TK's going to be fine. I'm sorry, but it is his choice if he wants to fight or not, and if he thinks it is better for him not to fight then we just have to trust him. Who knows what he had really been through, anyways? This all has to be overwhelming for him, and, besides, he has Tokomon with him along with the other ultimate digimon."

She said it with such certainty that he just about believed her, but he couldn't. He couldn't shake off the feeling that leaving his little brother behind was a big mistake. As he thought about it, though, maybe it was better if TK stayed behind. It would be safer outside while the battle was taking on in the fortress, and TK wouldn't have to fight any. Matt concluded he wasn't ok with TK's decision, but there was no way he was going to change it now. Especially since Angewomon had just flown through the big hole in the Emperor's fortress, created by MetalGreymon.

He smiled up at Kari out of thanks and saw relief spill over her face just as everything instantly got dark. The only light was the little bit coming from outside which was only enough for him to barely make out Kari who wasn't that far away from him. Angewomon must've been able to see better, though, cause she landed next to the others.

He was able to see a little better as an unknown digimon cast a light from the blade on its head. Davis was sitting on top of the black digimon, so he figured it was Veemon in a new form thanks to the digi-eggs TK had given the new digidestinds. They circled up in the middle of the hallway and Tai started talking.

"Ok, so I think we should split up," he said looking left and right.

"Good idea, this place is huge," Izzy said. Matt looked around and was able to see that he was right. The hallway they were in had to have had at least a ten foot high ceiling and they all, digimon included, could've probably walked down the hallway side by side. That fact didn't exactly comfort him. What exactly was huge enough to need a hallway like this?

He drew his attention back to the group. Sora said, "Good idea, as long as we stay together." He glared at Tai as Sora took his hand and he put her arm around her. Luckily, nobody noticed.

Tai continued, "Ok, so Sora, Kari, Izzy, Cody, uh, Willis was it?, and I will go this way," he pointed to his right, "And Matt, Joe, Mimi, Davis, …. Michael?... and Yolei can go that way. Now, let's go, and if you get in any trouble use the D-Terminal."

They quickly formed into their groups and they started going their own directions. Anger rose up inside him as he realized Tai didn't even notice TK was gone. Did he even care that he was back?

That was something that had bothererd him these past four years. It started out slow, but it kept growing and growing to the point where it made him want to hurt somebody. TK was a part of the group; he was one of the original digidestineds. The others, though, didn't seem to care about TK. None of them even seemed to miss TK since he moved to France four years ago. In fact, once TK left, it seemed like the others were happier. Tai and Sora happily were dating and none of them had asked how TK was, once. And Tai was supposed to be his best friend, and he was a brother to TK on their adventure. Mimi had gone off to America so he couldn't say much about her. Izzy was still the same, way too into computers, but even he had started to become more social and looked like he was happy. Joe was in medical school, and even Kari finally moved on from losing TK. He was glad they all were happy and he may even have been jealous of them, but he couldn't be happy. Not only had he lost his little brother that meant everything to him; he also lost his mother. Did anybody notice how much trouble he had been going through the past four years? No; no one asked him how he was doing or even how TK was doing. In fact, he didn't even spend much time with the others the past four years. The only times he saw them were during school, and maybe they'd go watch a movie whenever Mimi came back from America which was at most once every three months or so. Other than that, he didn't see much of some of his best friends. In fact, his best friend, Tai, he hadn't even talked to the past six months. They must not have noticed it, but this distance was killing him. He missed his friends, and he missed his brother. But now that he was back, maybe all of that would change. Maybe he could have his old life bad.

Which was why he didn't want TK getting hurt. Every day the past four years he wished his little brother would come back home. He had a reoccurring dream where he would open his eyes and he, his parents, and TK would be sitting around the dinner table in his dad's apartment. Gabumon and Patamon were there, and they all were eating, talking, and laughing. It seemed like the happiest dinner a family could spend together. But then it all ended, and he woke back up realizing it was only just a dream.

Maybe it was childish of him to have such dreams that everything would go back to the way it was. That somehow his parents would get back together and all of them would live happily together. But that was all that he could do. He wanted happiness again. He wanted to be around people who cared for him and loved him, and right now he didn't have that.

He opened his eyes and found himself in that dark world he was in the day he became reunited with TK. Everything around him was gray and lifeless, and the little happiness and hope inside of him was gone. Out of panic he closed his eyes hoping everything would go away and would return to normal, and luckily it did, though he heard an evil laughter very clear in his head, though it seemed very distant.

WereGarurumon was walking next to him with a look of determination on his face, but when Matt looked at his partner, he looked back with a look of understanding, as if he was reading his thoughts this whole time.

"Matt, everything's going to turn all right, but we need to focus on the matter at hand. We can worry about the other stuff later."

He nodded. WereGarurumon was right, of course he was right. Matt was letting his worries, his sadness, everything that had been affecting him these past four years get in his way of the mission he had. They were here for one purpose; to defeat the Digimon Emperor once and for all. Only after that was done could he restore his relationship with TK and maybe even the other digidestineds.

As they were walking down the seemingly never-end-less hallway, the walls started changing. Instead of stone, the walls were now iron bars on both sides. He heard whispers coming from the other side of the cages which ceased once they heard the footsteps and voices of their group.

Matt stopped walking and the others followed suit. Mimi looked like she was about to see a ghost as she clung on to Michael's arm. Joe looked just as frightened along with Yolei who was clinging onto Joe just like Mimi was to Michael. Davis moved closer to him, but Matt pushed him away.

"Don't get any ideas, goggle-dork."

"I… I know that voice!"

Matt quickly turned around as he heard loud footsteps coming near him. WereGarurumon moved in front of him and started growling. He was quite happy WereGarurumon was on his side because the digimon could be scary at times.

"Don't worry, it's only me!"

Matt finally was able to spot two round, yellow eyes floating in the air. It was too dark, but he didn't need the light to know who was standing right in front of him. He couldn't easily forget that voice. Memories of the countless days he worked as a slave for that digimon came back to his memory; those were not pleasant memories. And the fact that the digimon was behind bars was comforting to say the least.

"Digitamamon," he said reluctantly. WereGarurumon stopped growling but still looked ready to attack even though the digimon couldn't get out of his cage.

"So you do remember me! I was worried…"

"Digitamamon?" Joe asked, confused. That was right. Joe had worked with him at that time, and he had caused him to work even more days to pay off his debt because of his clumsiness. No, DemiDevimon was causing Joe to be that way; he had almost forgotten.

"That's right!" the egg digimon said happily. Davis's digimon came closer with his lighted blade acting like a torch and lighting up the room. Digitamamon didn't look any different than before, which didn't surprise him. Digitamamon didn't seem like the digimon who'd color his shell like an easter egg.

Yolei was asking who Digitamamon was, but no one paid her any attention. Mimi stood next to him and Joe, watching Digitamamon closely.

"What are you doing here?" Joe asked, moving closer to the cage.

Digitamamon looked to the ground instantly. When he spoke, Matt could hear the anger in his voice,

"The Digimon Emperor ruined everything. There I was, running my restaurant like always. Business was booming until the Digimon Emperor started taking over the Digital World. We kept getting less and less customers because they all were afraid of becoming the Emperor's slaves. Then, one day one of you digidestineds came to my restaurant…"

"One of us? Who was it?" Matt instantly spoke up.

"Umm, his name escapes me, but he looks like you. Blonde hair, blue eyes…"

"TK!"

"Yes, that's the boy's name!"

"What was he doing at your restaurant? When was this? Was he under the Emperor's…"

"Matt," Mimi warned. He was surprised that Mimi, out of all the others, would be the one to make him shut up. Usually she was the one who couldn't stop her tongue, but Matt didn't say anything. He closed his mouth and listened very intently.

"As I was saying, TK came to my restaurant with his partner, a Patamon. The two of them looked famished so I welcomed them with open arms and fed them free of charge."

Matt instantly became angry thinking the digimon had made TK work for his meal like he had so many years ago, but he kept silent and let the digimon continue.

"When they were done eating, I told them how I haven't seen any of you guys since the time of the Dark Masters and that the meal was on me as my way of saying thanks. But then Devimon came and started destroying my restaurant. My loyal waitor, Tapirmon, was destroyed. Angemon put up a good fight, but he too wasn't enough for the demon. Then I tried fighting the digimon, but even I wasn't strong enough to defeat him. I blacked out, and when I woke up I found myself here, locked up. And that's my story."

He finished his story and silence followed. Matt felt bad for assuming the worse of Digitamamon. From what the digimon said, he had tried to save TK. For that, he was thankful.

"Digitamamon… th… thank you for trying to protect TK."

The digimon shook off the praise and continued, "Never mind that, how is the boy? Is he ok?"

Matt couldn't say. He couldn't talk about his brother without remembering the fact he had chosen not to fight and get upset about that. Luckily, Mimi answered for him.

"He was long lost, but now is found, except he has no memory. He was under the Emperor's control for a while, but he finally was set free, and now he is with us," she said happily.

She was leaving out a lot… _a lot!_ But he didn't interrupt.

"I'm glad to here he's ok, and if I ever find Tapirmon again I can have him help TK get his memory back."

Hope instantly arose in Matt. It sounded like this Tapirmon was a digimo nto go searching for. Surely, he was reborn by now. They only needed to find the digimon.

"Yeah, but, Digiatamamon, how many digimon are here?" Joe asked, looking around the hallway. The cages seemed like they were never ending.

"Oh, this hallway goes on for a while. I'm not sure how many digimon there are exactly, but there are quite a bit of us."

"Can you save us?" a digimon asked from behind Digitamamon. He didn't recognize the voice, but apparently Mimi did.

"Otamamon? Is that you?"

The little digimon's voice instantly perked up. "Princess Mimi? Is that you?"

"Princess Mimi?" Yolei said giving Mimi a questioning look. He had almost forgotten that Davis, Yolei, and Michael were there too. He felt bad that they didn't know what was going on because 'Princess Mimi' was a funny story.

"Yes!" Mimi answered cheerfully, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, save for being held captive."

"We need to get these digimon out of here fast, before the Digimon Emperor finds us," Joe stated.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. The Emperor left with his new partner a while ago. He was saying something about 'destroying the Digital World, starting with Toy Town.'" Digiatamamon said happily.

"Awww, I really liked Toy Town," Otamamon said with a frown.

"Well then let's go save it, once we free you guys of course," Mimi said with a wink.

"How are we going to break the cages, though?" Michael asked, speaking up for the first time.

"I believe I can break them in a matter of no time," Michael's partner, a Seadramon- no, this digimon had a horn coming out of its head and was red instead of a greenish-blue- said.

"Ok, let's get at this. Lillymon, do your stuff!"

"Watch out everybody," Lillymon warned.

They all backed away from the cage as Lillymon yelled out, "Flower Canon!" The flower fairy formed a canon and shot a blast at the cage which immediately fell when the attack came into contact. As the bars crumbled to the floor, the whole fortress started to shake.

"Lillymon, you weren't supposed to destroy the place!" Mimi yelled out.

"It's not me!" the fairy yelled out.

The shaking continued, though, and Matt could hear explosions sounding from far away.

"I believe we are under attack," Davis's partner said.

"Then let's get out of here!" Davis yelled.

"No," he shouted as the others got ready to start running for the entrance. "We need to save these digimon first. If we don't save them, they may get destroyed."

The others nodded, though they looked worried as the fortress shook even more ferociously. Matt worried about the others and TK, but right now he had digimon to save.

"So, let's split up and get these digimon out of here as fast as we can!" he shouted.

"Right," they all yelled back over the sound of the explosions.

"WereGarurumon," he said loudly at his partner as the two of them ran to the end of the hallway. The others separated and started attacking the cages, save for Joe whose partner was outside the fortress. Whatever was going on outside didn't sound good, and Joe looked very worried because of it. Matt tried to think of something comforting to say to Joe as he followed him and WereGarurumon down the hallway, but he couldn't.

Instead he watched WereGarurumon destroy cage door after cage door, and when the digimon confusedly walked out of their cages he pointed the way toward the exit.

"Joe, show them the way out of here. Then you can go see what's going on outside."

Joe nodded, liking the idea, and said, "Come on!" to the digimon as they all followed him. Before long, an endless lign of digimon were marching down the hallway. Thankfully some of the digimon were Meramon, so he could see a little ways down the hallway because of the light.

It took them a while, but the cages finally ended. The hallway continued on a little ways and Matt could see a light coming from a little ways down there. WereGarurumon destroyed the last cage and was about to run off for the exit, but Matt continued to stare down the hallway. He felt like there was something important down there.

"Matt, we need to get going," his partner said urgently, but he didn't listen. Instead he went off at a dead sprint towards the light. He heard WereGarurumon yell after him and catch up in a matter of a few seconds- the wolf was pretty dang fast- as he came to a door. He pushed it open, aware of the intensifying explosions, and entered what looked like an engine room. The sound of machines running filled the room. He looked around for whatever it was he was looking for, and his eyes stopped in the dead center of the room. It looked like it was the generator. Everything was attached to it, and he could almost feel the power emanating from the place. That was what had drawn him here. If he could remove the power source, then this fortress wouldn't able to run. Maybe it was the source of the Emperor's power. Maybe it gave power to the dark spirals and rings and the control spires, and if he removed it then they would all stop working. It was worth a shot, but it was only a ten foot drop. As much of an athlete he thought he was, he didn't think he could survive that jump, and if he did, there was no way he could get back up. But then he realized he wasn't alone.

"WereGarurumon, we need to get down there," he said, pointing to the generator-thing.

"Right," the wolf growled as he wrapped his arms around him and jumped. Matt closed his eyes, but breathed a sigh of relief as they hit the floor softly. WereGarurumon let him go and he ran for the generator.

Now that he was close enough, he saw there was a glass encasement with a bunch of pieces of small, rectangular glass in different colors set in an encasement. The shards were glowing, and Matt looked in awe at the seven pieces. They were crests, that was for sure, but he never saw the symbol on them before. There was a pink, cream-colored, orange, dark-blue, black, gold, and white crests all with different symbols on them. Matt was admiring them when WereGarurumon spoke up,

"Matt, we _really _need to get going."

"Right, could you…"

WereGarurumon punched the glass surrounding the crests. Alarms blared, but he ignored them and grabbed the seven crests. Once the last crest was removed, everything turned pitch black. He felt the fortress suddenly start free-falling. WereGarurumon grabbed him as he stuffed the crests in his coat pocket and as the fortress hit the ground below, the two of them hit the floor hard. WereGarurumon let out a groan, but when Matt got off of him he stood up slowly, seemingly fine. All was silent, the explosions had stopped.

"Now can we get out of here?" WereGarurumon asked hopefully.

Matt let out a chuckle. "Yeah, but I can't see anything."

"I can change that. Garuru Kick!"

WereGarurumon leaped across the room, but Matt lost sight of his partner in the darkness. He heard the wall to his right crumble and his partner landed right next to him and put his arms around him as he leaped again. He set him back down before doing another Garuru Kick. This time, though, when the wall crumbled Matt could see light making its way inside. He didn't take another second before he ran out the hole in the wall right after his partner. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but when he could finally see again he gasped.

There were two fights going on. MetalGreymon, Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Lillymon, and Zudomon were all fighting Willis' two digimon, Michael's partner, the new digidestineds's new partners, and Angewomon. Their partners were watching the fight with looks of horror and they were shouting out to their digimon. He barely noticed Puppetmon sitting up in a nearby tree twiddling his fingers and laughing hysterically. Then there was a digimon Matt had never seen before fighting what looked like MetalSeadramon. The thought of the Dark Masters returning didn't even come to his mind, though, as he saw TK lying on the ground by himself, not moving, and he was deteriorating.


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon!

Ok, so this is the second part in the fight at the Emperor's fortress scene or whatever you want to call it. I was thinking of putting Matt's part, this part, and TK's part (Chapter 39) all into one chapter, but it would've been one super super long chapter so instead I'm separating them into three separate chapters. Also, I actually took the time to plan out the rest of this story (and maybe even start a plot for the sequel: let me know if this is a good idea in a review?) and this story is going to have 44 chapter total, meaning there's only six chapter left. I just have to write them out, so who knows how long that will take. Anyways, this is Tai's perspective! Still don't tell you what happened to TK yet, that's next chapter. But, I hope you like this one! It was kind of rushed at the end, so please excuse that. I blame it on my tiredness haha. I'm rambling, though, so I'll let you get to the chapter. Please review? Thanks!

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Chapter 38:

"… if you get in any trouble, use the D-Terminal," he told the others as he started leading the way down the hallway. Sora hurried next to him and grabbed his hand. He looked at her and smiled. He looked into her beautiful eyes as she smiled back at him. He really loved this girl. The way she made him feel inside every time he saw her… he knew she was 'the one.'

But he couldn't be thinking of this right now. He was Tai Kamiya, leader of the digidestineds. Everyone depended on him whenever they had to make a tough decision or was in some sort of trouble, which seemed to be most of the time. Davis was trying to become a leader, and he could do a pretty good job at it too, but he was young and inexperienced. He had much to learn, just like he had much to learn when they started out on his first adventure with the eight original digidestineds.

But he was older now. It was his sophomore year in high school already. Soon, he would be graduating from high school and moving on with his life to bigger and better places. He wasn't so keen on it, but his parents expected him to go to a university and continue studying. What he wanted to do with his life, though, he had no idea. He guessed he would just have to figure that much out later.

He knew he wanted Sora with him, no matter where he went. She already had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, but now that they had taken their relationship to the next level he knew he couldn't stand to be away from her. She completed him. He knew it sounded corny and stuff, but it was true. She was the one who laughed at his jokes, who was first to follow his lead. She was always there for him whenever he needed someone to listen to him. She was perfect.

He shook his head again, realizing that his mind was going astray again. He had a mission at hand. He could hear the others' footsteps behind him- he looked back to make sure Kari was there, which she was- but other than that, all was silent. Well, Kari and that blonde boy, Willis, were whispering to each other and Kari started laughing. He made a mental note to tell Willis to back off his little sister; he had already let Davis get her, and he wasn't about to let anyone else try to take Kari away. Izzy was walking next to Sora, and Cody was walking a ways back with his partner, Digmon. Willis' two digimon were there too along with Angewomon. They had quite a big group with them, and that was only half of the group. The Digimon Emperor didn't stand a chance.

But where was the Emperor? Surely, he had some sort of alarms or something that would let him know they were in his fortress, but they hadn't come across anything. The fortress was quiet, too quiet for Tai's comfort. He could tell that something was wrong.

As they continued walking, the hallway suddenly split off in two directions. There wasn't any sort of sign or anything to tell them which way to go.

"Which one do we take?" Sora voiced his thoughts.

He looked down both directions, but he couldn't tell which way to go. "Umm…. I have no idea…"

"Can we do eenie-meenie-miny-moe?" Kari asked excitedly.

"That is a very trivial way to decide upon this. Whichever one you don't start with is the one we will go," Izzy said as if it were obvious. Honestly, though, Tai never knew that.

"How about we take a vote?" Willis spoke up.

"I think that is a logical decision," Cody agreed. Why that kid tried to talk so proper and stuff all the time, he had no idea.

"Well," Tai said, regaining authority, "All in favor of going…" he stopped and pointed to his right, "… that way, raise your hand."

He along with Sora, Cody, Digmon, and Izzy rose their hands.

"And the other way?" he said as Kari, Willis, Angewomon, and Willis' two digimon raised their hands. Of course, it was a tie.

"I told you we should've did it my way," Kari said snidely to Izzy who just shook his head.

Then, Tai had an idea. He pulled out his lucky coin from his pocket that he carried everywhere.

"New plan of action. I flip this coin; heads goes to the right, tails to the left. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" they all yelled back.

He put the coin on his finger before flicking it, sending the coin high into the air. He watched it spin rapidly and it hit the floor with a high-pitched _ting. _It started rolling until it hit a crease on the floor and then it stopped. Tai picked it up, showing what it had landed on to everybody.

"Tails!"

With that he stuffed the coin back into his pocket and started going down the hallway. He was sort of expecting enemy digimon to come charging out of the walls or something. Maybe even the Emperor himself stop them with Neomnimon, but there was nothing, nothing at all. And the hallway continued on and on for forever.

"Do we even know where we are going," Kari whined from behind him.

"Well, I'm not the Digimon Emperor so sorry I don't know my way around his fortress. If you think you know better, than why don't you take the lead."

He wished he would've bit his tongue because Kari stormed ahead of him and did just what he had said. He sighed and he heard Sora chuckle. At least she was able to find humor in this, and because she did it made him smile.

Although, he didn't like not being in the lead, he didn't mind stepping back and relaxing. It wasn't even like it was that big of a deal, but he always was in front, always. To take a break and not worry about where you were leading everybody was nice.

They continued walking around the winding hallway until it split up again. This time it wasn't just two choices they could go, there were seven different hallways all in a big circle.

"Since I'm in charge, I say we do eeny-meenie-miny-moe this time."

No one objected at which she smiled happily and pointed at one of the hallways. She sang the familiar tune moving her finger from one hallway to the next.

"…if he hollers let him go. Eeny-meenie-miny…. MOE!"

Without further ado, Kari charged off in the direction her finger had stopped on. Angewomon hurried after her and Willis laughed as he tried to catch up. Again Tai sighed, and followed after her, still holding Sora's hand.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Izzy said ominously, and he knew why. The Digimon Emperor should've been there. There was definitely something wrong.

They walked down this hallway for about ten minutes before they could see a light up ahead. Excited, Kari quickened her pace up. Everyone followed suit. There had to be something up ahead. Something that wasn't a boring, dull hallway.

Once they got there, though, they were disappointed. It was the same hole they came through that MetalGreymon had made for them. Somehow they had gone in a complete circle in the maze of hallways they had gone through. Something caught his eye, however, while he was looking outside.

"Hey guys, what's that?"

They followed his pointed hand and saw what he was staring at. A plump cloud of black smoke rising from a bit away.

"It appears that it is smoke," Izzy said.

"Well, duh, but what's it there for?" Sora asked.

"Why don't we go check it out?" Kari said, "We're not getting much accomplished here."

"Right, let's go!" Tai agreed.

Angewomon grabbed a hold of him and Kari as the digimon took flight. Willis's white bunny digimon with green armor grabbed a hold of Willis and Izzy. Willis's other digimon, a tall, brown bunny grabbed Sora and Digmon wrapped his arms around Cody. They all flew through the hole in the fortress and fell to the grass below.

They landed softly on the ground, and he looked for MetalGreymon. It wasn't hard to miss his partner, not trying to call his digimon fat or anything, MetalGreymon just was huge. But something was wrong. He had his arms out in a weird position and he was doing some sort of silly dance or something of the sort. Garudamon was next to him along with MegaKabuterimon and Zudomon. They all were doing similar things, all acting as if they didn't have control over their bodies.

"Garudamon?" Sora called out, confused.

"MegaKabuterimon! What are you doing?" Izzy said, just as confused.

He watched the digimon look at them only to have their heads jerked back in a different way. Then, he heard laughter, a laugh that seemed strangely familiar. He looked around for the source, but no one was there besides them. He looked back at their partners, and then he saw it. Up on the fortress, what looked like a little wooden boy was flailing his arms around and laughing hysterically. He rubbed his eyes, hoping he was just seeing things, but he wasn't. Puppetmon was back.

Sora confirmed his suspicions, "Is… is that Puppetmon?"

"It is!" Izzy said with anger.

"Who's Puppetmon?" Willis and Cody asked in unison.

"He's one of the Dark Masters," Kari replied dismissively as if that explained everything. The confusion on their faces deepened, but Tai didn't pay them any attention.

"Puppetmon, stop that now!"

"What, who's there?" the digimon asked stopping what he was doing. He noticed that their partners stopped when Puppetmon stopped. He must have had them on those strings of his, being controlled by Puppetmon. That was just splendid.

"Ahh, look who we have here! You guys have come to play with me again!" he stated, more than asked.

"No, we're not here to play you little creep," Sora shouted harshly, "Now let Garudamon go!"

"But I'm not done with her or the other just yet. They have become my favorite toys. Actually, I don't think I'm ever going to get rid of them."

"Well, that's too bad because we're here to take them back!" Tai said confidently.

"Oh, really? We'll see about that. Attack!" Puppetmon ordered as he pointed his finger towards the four digimon. At first the digimon didn't move, but then he heard them scream out in agony. Their bodies slowly turned to face them, and Tai watched in horror as his partner's and the other digimon's eyes turned from their normal color to pitch red. MetalGreymon growled threatingly before charging right at him and the others.

"MetalGreymon, what are you…" he started.

"Tai watch out!" Kari shouted as she tackled him to the ground. He heard something zoom right past them and he heard an explosion.

"Angewomon!"

Angewomon took flight and started attacking MetalGreymon. It took all the willpower for him not to punch Kari in the face as he got back up to his feet.

"You're digimon is attacking mine!" he shouted furiously at her.

"Yeah, and you're digimon also just about blew you up Tai! They're under Puppetmon's control right now! What do you want to do, just let them destroy you?" she shouted just as ferociously back.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Sora said sharply. She turned her eyes to his and looked straight into them, "We have to fight them right now. I know it's hard, but we can't do nothing," she said and Tai could tell how much it pained for her to say that.

At that time the other digimon: Willis' two digimon and Digmon joined Angewomon as they fought MetalGreymon, Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon. As they did so, Izzy ran up to them followed by Cody and Willis.

"We need to do something before they destroy each other," Izzy said looking at Tai as if waiting for him to sound off a perfect plan. Well, Izzy was out of luck. He had no idea how they could stop Puppetmon's control of their digimon unless they destroyed Puppetmon himself. And at the time, there was no way they could take down the puppet digimon. Especially now that… no, it couldn't be. Not another one.

"Guys… ummm… we have more company," Tai said pointing towards the fortress. MetalSeadramon was flying through the air as if it were the ocean right at the fortress. He stopped and raised himself high. Then, he leaned back and shouted out,

"River of Power!" as an energy beam shot from his nose right at the fortress. The floating rock shook very quickly and MetalSeadramon sent another blast at the fortress. Two dark masters? And right now their digimon were fighting each other? Suddenly facing the Digimon Emperor didn't seem so bad.

"Look, it's Mimi!" Willis called out. Tai looked up and saw that he was right. Lillymon was carrying Mimi down from the fortress flying right at them. The fairy digimon landed and Mimi came running up to them.

"Guys you wouldn't believe what we… ummm, what exactly is going…." Then she stopped seeing what was going on. Fear grew in her eyes as the scene finally clicked in her brain. "Oh. My. Gosh. What is going on here?"

No one took the time to answer her as they gasped, watching the fortress free-fall to the ground. It landed with a loud thud that echoed throughout the meadow they were in. Puppetmon had fallen off, and even MetalSeadramon seemed taken aback as he stopped attacking the place. Their digimon, though, continued fighting, and MetalSeadramon continued to attack the fortress.

"Guys, we got to go help them!" Mimi shouted as she ran off towards the fortress. He didn't see who she had meant by "them," but he quickly saw. Michael, Davis, and Yolei ran out of the fortress with their partners followed by Joe who was then followed by a long line of digimon of all kinds. How they had found the digimon, he had no idea, but now wasn't the time to be worrying about that.

"Tai," Joe called out as he ran right at him. Tai ran for Joe meeting him halfway. Joe stopped and was panting.

"Captured digimon… need…. To go some… where safe."

He was confused, but he guessed what Joe meant as he looked at the digimon. They all had worried faces on and didn't like they were going to be fighting anytime soon. They needed to be taken to safety, away from the fight.

He looked to Sora quick saying, "Make sure they don't kill MetalGreymon."

He waited for her nod before yelling out, "Ok, all you digimon, follow me!"

He turned and ran off at a dead sprint. As he did so he looked around for somewhere safe. He saw a building in the distance and figured there was a town of some sort nearby. Whatever place that was, it was going to have to be good enough to keep _a lot _of helpless digimon safe.

It didn't take long at his pace before that building far off was right in front of him. As he got closer to it he saw that the town was bigger than he originally thought. And the place was familiar. This was ToyTown, one of the first places they had gone to while on their first adventure.

"Right," he said regaining his breath. The digimon had followed him very closely, but there were so many. He waited for all of them to catch up before saying,

"Now, you all stay here for now, ok?"

He heard a bunch of random noises and he could pick out some "Thank you's" "Where are we's?" and "I'm hungry's" as he ran back to the battle that was going on. He had to go a little slower on the way back because his legs were getting really sore at his pushing them. He was an athletic person, but with all this digimon stuff going on the past few weeks he hadn't been able to exercise as much as he had wanted. He made it back to the fortress, though, panting heavily. He rubbed the sweat out of his eyes as he saw a huge digimon he didn't recognize fighting MetalSeadramon. Lillymon was put under Puppetmon's control somehow and was fighting Willis' two digimon, Angewomon, Digmon, Yolei and Davis' new digimon, and Michael's digimon with Zudomon, MetalGreymon, Garudamon, and MegaKabuterimon along side with her. Matt was standing by the fortress with a look of horror on his face as he stood next to WereGarurumon. The other digidestineds were standing in a circle around something. As he watched them he saw someone was on the ground in the middle. The person had blonde hair and wasn't moving.


	39. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon!

Again, this chapter is a lot like some of the Digimon Adventure episodes at some parts, so I once again stress the point of the disclaimer. Anyways, this is TK's perspective and you all finally get the chance to find out what happens to him. I said I was going to make this story dark didn't I? Well, just read and find out what happens for yourself. Thank you all of you reviewers! It means a lot, and I am trying to include some reviewer suggestions (like the whole TK-Ken fight thing and Davis getting Magnamon- which is going to happen soon. Only five more chapters, so please bear with me as we near the end. I hope you all like this chapter- and it doesn't disappoint you guys- and please review!

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Chapter 39:

Toy Town was a lot further away than it had seemed, though TK didn't mind. Being on his own with Patamon, he liked that more than being around everybody. He didn't want to admit it, but other than Matt and maybe Kari, none of the other digidestineds seemed to care that he was back. Honestly, he talked to Michael and Willis since his return than any of the others, save for Matt. It seemed as if they were happy without him and having him back would make things complicated. He couldn't shake off the feeling that he didn't belong anymore and maybe he should've thought about Gennai's offer a little more.

But then again, maybe the others were simply caught up and worried about all of this Digimon Emperor stuff. He did only come back yesterday so it wasn't like they had much of a chance to talk to him. Maybe they were happy he was back; they just hadn't had the chance to show that to him yet.

He felt guilty for walking out on them, though. They were going to be fighting the Emperor on their own, and what if they got in trouble and he wasn't there to help? Was he letting his friends down by going exploring, reminiscing over memories long forgotten? Matt's face as Kari's angel digimon carried him away stuck in his mind, a face full of anger, shock, and… disappointment.

He did love being on his own, though. Everything was happening so fast for him. One moment he was in the Emperor's fortress being held prisoner being whipped. The next he was leaving France on an airplane. Then he was flying through the desert on Pegasusmon. Then he was in Gennai's and then with the others. And now he was walking with Patamon over to Toy Town, a place he supposingly had already been to. It was good to be able to take a deep breath and not have to worry about getting into trouble.

Oh, and by going to Toy Town, Patamon wouldn't have to fight at all. That was a plus. Maybe he had thought that Patamon couldn't be defeated and so he ruthlessly demanded his partner to go into battle. Ever since the battle against Neomnimon, though, he realized just how real the danger of fighting was. He had almost lost Patamon, the only one he was one-hundred percent sure he needed in life, and he wasn't going to let that happen again. Patamon wasn't going to fight anymore.

The sun was beating right on his face so he adjusted the hat he had taken from his father's and Matt's place. As he did so, an adenoidal voice spoke up from behind him. He quickly turned around, but smiled in relief as he saw Wormon trying to catch up.

"Wait up," the digimon was saying loudly as he crawled as fast as he could.

"Wormon!" Patamon said in greeting.

The worm digimon caught his breath before saying, "Where are you guys going?"

"To Toy Town!" his partner replied happily.

"But what about the others? Aren't you going to help them? You're the only ones I trust to fight Ken," the digimon said, confused.

"The others will be fine, we just… can't fight," he told the digimon.

"Can't fight?"

"What TK means to say is that he's scared of me getting hurt and refuses to let me fight anymore," Patamon said annoyed.

Wormon still looked confused. "Well, that just sounds…"

"Sorry I care about the well-being of my digimon partner!" he said before turning around and walking to Toy Town. Wasn't the whole purpose of this little trip to get away from other people, or digimon for that matter. He just needed some time away from everybody. He wasn't asking others what they thought about his actions; he didn't need their opinions because his wasn't changing.

"TK wait up," Patamon said frantically.

"Why should I?" he said turning around on his heel. He felt all the emotions he had been holding inside of him for… well, as long as he could remember, building up. As he answered his partner, his feelings got the best of him. "No one wants me here. I don't even remember these people, and they all are trying to treat me like a baby. Like I'm the same eight year old- or whatever age I was at the time- child they last remember me as. I don't have a mother anymore, and even then she'd be just like the others. None of them want to accept me as who I am now. And now, my digimon partner, the only one who has showed me true love and has tried to help me through this, the one who I wouldn't be able to live without, doesn't want to be with me anymore because I'm afraid I'll lose him in battle. I don't know if you realized this, Patamon, but I can't do this without you! And if you… if you die… I just can't…"

He turned around from the two digimon who stared at him, jaws dropped, as tears started forming in his eyes. Why did this have to happen to him? He kept walking, though, not turning back for the others.

When he looked up, he saw he was finally in Toy Town. The place did have a sort of sense of familiarty as he looked around. There were colorful buildings lined up all over Toy Town. He looked into one of the windows and saw a toy box with a yellow stuffed bear sitting with its back rested on the box. The place was really cool, but it was also sort of creepy. There was no sign of anyone there which seemed odd. Toy Town seemed like it should've been the home for all kinds of digimon, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

TK nearly jumped out of his skin when one of those wind up monkey toys clanging two cymbals together came out of nowhere right in front of him. He watched the toy as it went around and round in circles and then ran into one of the buildings and fell on its side. He looked around for the cause of the disturbance but saw no one, besides Patamon and Wormon who were coming towards him.

"TK!" Patamon said. He tried to turn around and walk away from the two digimon, but Patamon flew in front of his face making him stop dead in his tracks.

"TK, I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way, but running away from us isn't going to make you feel better. You have to know that I am your partner and I want to make you happy, but sometimes making you happy means I have to protect you. I have to fight in order to keep you safe. I love you too and I can't be without you either," the digimon said with a snivel as a tear escaped the digimon's eye.

TK tried to hold in his tears as he had just got them under control, but he couldn't hold them back anymore.

"Patamon… I…" he tried, but instead he reached out his arms and the digimon landed in them. He hugged his partner tight, tears falling. He had to have the best partner ever.

"I love you Patamon."

"I love you too TK."

They stayed that way for a little longer before Wormon spoke up. He had almost forgotten the little worm digimon.

"Umm… as much as I hate to interrupt this, I believe we have company."

At first he didn't click with him, "What?" he asked as he let Patamon go who was wiping his eyes with his wings.

"I said I believe we have company. Listen."

TK did and he could hear what Wormon was talking about. A boy's voice was talking loudly in an authoritative sounding voice. Anger rose up inside him as he realized who it was.

"He's coming closer," Wormon said, "Hide!"

The three of them ran for cover behind one of the trees and just in time too. The Digimon Emperor along with Neomnimon and a group of digimon who all had dark spirals on followed. The Emperor picked up the monkey toy that had scared him earlier and examined it before throwing it back down on the ground.

"Worthless. The whole Digital World is worthless. It doesn't need to exist anymore, especially if those pathetic digidestineds are going to best me and destroy all my precious control spires. Well, if I don't rule this world, then I'm sure as hell not going to let the digidestineds rule it. Neomnimon, we're going to destroy the Digital World, starting with Toy Town."

The digimon nodded before launching beams of energy from each of his six claws. The attacks hit the buildings and were instantly destroyed. They caught fire and the fire continued to spread from building to building as Neomnimon continued to destroy Toy Town. He had to grab Patamon because the digimon was about to fly out and probably try to stop Neomnimon. He was able to stop his partner and he hoped the Emperor hadn't seen anything.

Wormon was shaking in anger as he watched his former partner order for the destruction of Toy Town. TK felt bad for the digimon, but he remembered the promise he made. He sighed. He didn't want to, but he had to let Patamon fight. He couldn't just stand still and watch this place get destroyed. He let his partner go and looked him in the eyes.

"Patamon," he said, dead serious, "You know what you have to do, but promise me you won't… you know."

"I.." the digimon hesitated at first, but then shook his head before nodding, "You have my word TK."

"Right, now digivolve!"

Patamon instantly started glowing. He blew their cover, that was for sure, but it was going to have to happen eventually. The digimon changed forms first to Angemon and then to MagnaAngemon.

"Be safe,"

The angel nodded before flying away. TK moved from behind the tree as he watched his partner fly towards Neomnimon.

"Destroy that evil digimon, MagnaAngemon," Wormon said, anger clear in his nasally voice.

"Ah, look who it is. I was wondering when I'd be seeing you again. I didn't think it'd be so soon, though, not after what happened last time."

TK ignored the Emperor. He was just trying to get under his skin, he knew that, but it was sure working.

"Ken, stop this right now!" Wormon shouted, following TK.

The Emperor didn't even show any sign of recognition. Instead, Ken continued, "You must not care for your partner, letting him fight against an opponent that is too much for him. And Neomnimon isn't alone this time. You there, attack the enemy digimon," he ordered to the group of digimon standing behind him. They obeyed orders and joined the battle, helping Neomnimon.

"You really are a terrible partner, you know that?" Ken continued, "There is no way you're partner can win this battle, and it appears you're all alone. No one is here to save you this time around, huh? They all decided they didn't want a memory-less freak like yourself?" he sighed, "Tiz a shame. You could've helped me a lot. Heck, we could've maybe even defeated the digidestineds, together. But you ruined that chance, and I haven't forgiven you either for it. You and your partner, and even Wormon, are going to die by mine and Neomnimon's hands today. Hey, maybe you'll be able to remember this when you're dead."

He didn't even realize his fists were balled up and he now was only five feet away from the Emperor. The Emperor simply laughed as he drew his whip from his blue coat and flung it at him. He winced as the whip lashed his face, hard. He heard Wormon gasp from behind him. He put his hand on his face and saw that he was bleeding. He laughed though. He had to play this cool. He looked up at the Emperor who was shocked by this.

"W.. why are you laughing? Fight me!" he yelled.

"Eh, I think now's a good time to talk," he said as nonchalantly as he could, trying to hide his anger.

"Wh… what?" the Emperor asked, completely caught off guard.

"But then again, maybe you're right. It is a good time to fight."

He quickly ran towards the Emperor before Ken could regain his composure while drawing back his fist and punching him as hard as he possibly could. Ken was knocked off his feet by the impact and landed hard on his back. As he tried to get back up he whipped his whip at TK again, but TK was ready for it. He caught the whip in the air before launching a strong kick hitting the Empeoror hard in the stomach. Ken fell again and this time was slow to get up.

"TK watch out!" a frantic voice yelled.

He turned and saw a white figure flying right at him. He quickly ducked out of the way and watched the figure slam hard into a tree. He was about to turn back to his fight with the Emperor when he realized the figure wasn't getting up very fast and Neomnimon was walking towards it, about to launch the kill shot. It was MagnaAngemon.

To say he panicked was an understatement. MagnaAngemon tried to get up, but Neomnimon had already launched the attack and it was going right at him at a high speed. TK screamed out MagnaAngemon's name as he ran as fast as he could to get to him before the attack did, but he was going to be too late. The Emperor was laughing maniacally behind him. 'No,' he thought to himself, 'No! He promised!'

The attack was closing in fast onto the digimon… and then it hit.

"NO!" TK yelled, completely horrified.

"Yes!" the Emperor said happily from behind him.

The attack cleared and he was expecting the worst, but what he saw caused him to stop dead in his tracks with his jaw dropped.

Wormon was lying on the ground deteriorating. MagnaAngemon stood behind the worm digimon, looking down at him with a look of sympathy on his face. It took him awhile for the sight to catch up with his mind, and when it did he ran for the worm digimon. He dropped to his knees next to the worm digimon, tears yet again falling from his face- he just couldn't stop himself from crying today.

"What? What's going on…" the Emperor said, confused.

"Wo.. Wormon."

"TK, remember our promise, please. Ken seems really bad, but I promise you that it is not his true self. I know you guys can get through to him. Now, I don't have much time. MagnaAngemon… take what little strength I have. I don't know if it will be enough, but it's all I have to offer."

MagnaAngemon nodded and Wormon started glowing.

"Wormon..." he said, struggling for words, "Thank you."

The glowing worm digimon nodded before deteriorating into tiny pieces of digital data. The data swirled around MagnaAngemon and the angel digimon started glowing just like Wormon had. The light grew, though, and soon was covering all of Toy Town. The white light was too bright for TK who had to cover his eyes. When the light dimmed down, MagnaAngemon was in the air perfectly healed.

"What is going on here! Where's Wormon?" the Emperor asked.

"Oh, you care about him now?"

"What? Of course not. This doesn't change anything. Neomnimon and you other digimon, destroy those two."

He looked at Neomnimon who nodded and flew towards MagnaAngemon who charged the enemy digimon as well. He ran to get out of the way of the fight and ran into something hard.

"What the…"

He gasped as he saw what it was he hit. He was standing face to face to a green tank sort of digimon who had a couple more digimon like him, a couple of gear-looking digimon, and a big yellow teddy bear kind of like the stuffed animal he saw before standing next to him. These were the dark spiral controlled digimon and they didn't look too happy that he had run into them.

"Destroy him!"

The tank digimon looked over at the Emperor, and then started… laughing? Yes, the tank digimon was laughing and the other digimon standing next to him started laughing as well.

"Who are you to think you can order us around," a gravelly voice said. It was the tank digimon he had run into.

"I am the Digimon Emperor! You're master?"

"Master?" the digimon asked before joining in a big round of laughter with his other fellow digimon. "Who do these humans think they are nowadays?"

The digimon turned around and started going the other way. Suddenly, though, the tank digimon turned around and looked right at TK.

"Oh, and kid, try to watch where you're going next time."

"Uh…. Ok," he said with a smile. He looked down at the ground where the digimon had been standing, or floating in some cases, and saw pieces of the dark spirals shattered and scattered on the ground.

"Come back here you pathetic digimon!"

The digimon didn't stop, though. The Emperor growled in frustration. He took this time to watch the fight between Neomnimon and MagnaAngemon and smiled when he saw Neomnimon on the ground, not moving.

"No! This cannot be happening. Neomnimon!" the Emperor cried out, dropping to his knees.

"Finish him, MagnaAngemon," he said.

MagnaAngemon drew his purple energy sword and sliced the evil digimon in half. Neomnimon instantly burst into pieces of data just like Wormon had, and the data swirled upward, disappearing as it drifted away in the digital sky.

The Emperor was in pieces, not literally mind you, as tears fell from his face.

"Neomnimon… what did I do wrong?"

MagnaAngemon flew towards TK and landed right by his side.

"Great job MagnaAngemon,"

The angel digimon simply nodded but then pointed off in a random direction. TK looked at what his partner was pointing at, and then saw what his partner was worried about. Back at the fortress, a metal sea dragon was sending attacks at the fortress while a bunch of other digimon were fighting each other. He had completely forgot about the others who were still in the fortress and wasn't exactly pleased at what he saw. He didn't know what could be causing trouble, but something sure was going on. Something bad, at that.

"Right, let's go."

MagnaAngemon put his arms around him before flying off towards the fortress. He looked back at the Emperor who still was on his knees with his head down. He prayed that Ken would be ok and that Wormon would be able to come back somehow.

It didn't take nearly as much time to get back to the fortress with MagnaAngemon than it did to walk to Toy Town, and within a couple of minutes they were back and he could see what was going on.

MagnaAngemon told him that the sea serpent was MetalSeadramon- MagnaAngemon was in disbelief for some reason and he could remember the digimon being a part of his past adventures from the stories Patamon told him earlier- and he recognized MetalGreymon, Garudamon, Zudomon, and MegaKabuterimon who were all fighting Kari's, Willis's, Michael's, Mimi's, Davis's, Cody's, and Yolei's digimon partners. Why they were fighting he had no idea, but then he caught sight of a wooden puppet looking digimon on top of the fortress laughing hysterically while twiddling his fingers.

MagnaAngemon then dropped to the ground saying, "I have to go TK." He didn't want his partner to go, especially since yet again he had almost lost his partner, but MagnaAngemon was already sending a beam of purple energy from his sword toward the unsuspecting MetalSeadramon.

He heard his name from somewhere in the distance behind him, but he ignored it. He had to focus on his partner and needed to help whenever he could. He couldn't lose his partner.

MagnaAngemon's attack hit MetalSeadramon dead on, and the digimon growled out in anger as he turned to see his attacker. MagnaAngemon was already closing in on the digimon and drew his sword back. He lurched forward, but MetalSeadramon whipped his tail at the angel digimon and MagnaAngemon flew back dodging it. MetalSeadramon then lunged for MagnaAngemon with his jaw opened wide. The angel digimon didn't have time to recover from dodging the tail and was snatched in MetalSeadramon's jaw. MetalSeadramon was trying to snap down on MagnaAngemon who was struggling to hold the digimon's mouth open.

"No!" TK wasn't going to let this happen again. Like he said before, he could not lose his partner. He ran towards the metal sea dragon.

He looked up at his partner who was still fighting, and quickly thought up a plan. It may have been a dumb plan, but desperate times call for desperate measures. He ran for MetalSeadramon's tail which was on the ground. He ran up the tail as fast as he could. Lucky for him, the sea serpent's body was wide enough for his feet to land on, and the metal body gave enough traction to help him from falling off the digimon.

He continued to run up MetalSeadramon, aware that MagnaAngemon could only hold on for so long. He got to the creature's uplifted neck and jumped. He grabbed onto the digimon purple hair and stuggled to keep his grip. He pulled as hard as he could on the chords of hair and the digimon yelled in pain.

The digimon suddenly started flailing its head and he lost his grip. It was at the moment he realized just how high up he was. He looked down and knew he was about to die. He started free-falling, the ground getting closer and closer with every second. He closed his eyes, hoping that dying didn't hurt.

Then he felt arms wrap around him and his falling slowed. He opened his eyes and looked up and saw MagnaAngemon smiling down at him. But then something hit the two of them and they were back to flying at the ground. This time they hit the ground hard.

"I've had enough of this!" MetalSeadramon announced, "River of Power!"

The digimon's nozzle started glowing and he knew what was going to happen next. This time, though, he was going to be the one to protect his partner. He pushed himself up off the ground and stood with his arms out in front of his partner.

"TK… don't do it."

He didn't budge, though, even when MetalSeadramon finally launched the attack and the beam of light flew right at him. 'This is it,' he thought to himself, 'for real.' At least he was going to be able to keep his partner safe. He closed his eyes and images flashed through his mind. He saw Patamon, his brother Matt, his father, even his mother, along with all of the other digidestineds. Then, the attack hit him dead on, and everything was gone.


	40. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or any of the episodes!

This chapter again has one of TK's dreams/memories things and I once again stress the point of the disclaimer! Here's chapter 40. Not a lot happens here, but it is a longer chapter mostly because of the dream/memory(sorry about it but this one was a longer memory) and then all the storytelling they do afterwards. This is leading up to the ending so stick with me here! Four more chapter, maybe five depending on what you guys think, but I'll ask you about it when we get there. Thanks for all the reviews and I hope this is a quick enough update for you guys.

Also, I will try to explain my bad grammar. First off, I do not proofread my work, tiz a shame, but it takes so much time to write these chapters and I never feel like reading back through them. Also, with the usage of pronouns, whenever you see a pronoun that you aren't sure who it is referring to, it is most likely referring to the person's whose perspective is being used. I want to stay uniform so I'm staying away from first person writing, but I don't want to use the person's name all the time so... the whole pronoun thing can get a bit messed up and I should try to work on clearing my writing up a little better. I focused more on that this chapter, so I hope it's better.

And now, here's chapter 40! Review and all that stuff please~

* * *

Chapter 40:

_He opened his eyes and shook his head to try to help wake his mind up. He didn't know why but he felt extra tired today, very sluggish. He rubbed his eyes vigorously trying to shake the heaviness out of them. Finally, he was awake enough to look at his surroundings and see exactly where he was at._

_He was in the middle of the desert. There was a campfire burning in the middle of a group of children. He was able to recognize the children. There was Matt, Sora, Izzy, Joe, and Mimi who were all sleeping next to each other with their digimon partners dozing off as well. A little ways away from the others laid Tokomon along with a tiny blonde-haired child who looked significantly younger than the rest. He was laying a little ways away from everybody, but he was still close to the fire and was sleeping heavily. It was him as a child; this was another one of those memory/dream things._

_Nothing was going on save for sleeping, and he was starting to wonder how he could stop this because it was quite boring to him, but all of a sudden he heard movement. He looked back to the others and saw Sora get up along with Biyomon. None of the others noticed her. _

_Sora walked as quietly as she could over to where TK was sleeping. As she got there Tokomon yawned and opened his eyes. He looked at Sora with confusion. Sora started whispering, though, before Tokomon could talk._

"_Shhh… we're going off to find Tai on our own. Don't wake anyone," she said quietly._

_Biyomon joined in as well, "We'll see you later Tokomon."_

"_Oh… ok!" the digimon said tiredly as he yawned again. Tokomon fell back asleep and Sora and Biyomon turned the other way and started walking off into the desert._

_The scene changed though they still were in the desert. Everyone was still there save for Tai, Sora, and their partners. This time, though, a sandstorm was going on as the others struggled to keep on moving. They were covering their eyes and were trying hard not to get blown away._

"_We're never going to find the others this way!" Izzy screamed over the sound of the wind and sand flying through the air. _

"_Maybe it would be better if we split up?" Joe suggested._

"_I don't know," Mimi started, "Maybe you're right."_

"_I'll go this way!" Izzy declared and it didn't take long before he and Tentomon had disappeared._

"_I'm going too. I'll see you guys later." Joe left as well along with Gomamon._

"_I guess I'll go too. Bye Matt, bye TK," said Mimi as she too walked off with her partner._

_Matt shrugged his shoulders at his little brother as TK looked around with worry evident on the child's face. He must have been looking for the others, his friends._

_Yet again, the scene changed. They no longer were in the desert, for which he was happy. He had already had a bad experience with deserts and hadn't grown particularly fond of them. Now, as he looked around, he was in a wooded area that had a big amusement park nestled in it. Well, they weren't in the woods; he was on the outskirts of the woods standing close to a river or lake or something of the sort. He instantly spotted a swan pedal boat on the shore- why or how it had gotten there, he had not the slightest idea- and standing by the boat was Matt, Gabumon, TK- the eight year old- and Tokomon. He made his way over to the boat and listened to their conversation._

"_So TK, you're sure you'll be fine," Matt said looking down at his little brother._

"_I'll be fine," TK said hesitantly._

_Matt smiled and put his hand on TK's head, "That's my big little bro."_

"_But you'll be back pretty soon, right?" TK asked quickly._

"_Right," Matt answered, "I'm just gonna look around a little. Really check this place out. I'll be back in a couple of hours at most."_

"_Tokomon," Gabumon continued, "You're responsible for looking after him, ok?"_

"_Sure," the little digimon said cutely._

_Then Matt and Gabumon got in the swan boat and started pedaling away. TK and Tokomon were waving as they went away._

"_Don't be worry," TK shouted, "We'll be waiting right here!"_

"_Great," Matt answered back, "And remember, it's an amusement park, so like… amuse yourselves. See you soon!"_

"_Ok, bye."_

_As soon as Matt and Gabumon had got quite a ways off shore, though, the little boy's face dropped. Now he was all alone, save for Tokomon._

_The scene didn't change, but he could tell it was later in the day. The sun was dropping, and it was just low enough that it was casting a dark orange color all over. He saw TK, the little kid, sitting down facing the lake. TK was looking at the horizon sitting completely still. He felt bad for the kid version of himself, having everybody leave you while being so young must have really been tough. It was weird to think that this had actually happened to him at some point._

_Tokomon dragged a leaf holding a bunch of all kinds of fruits. The little digimon stopped and walked over to his partner._

"_He'll come back, TK."_

"_I wonder what's keeping him," TK said softly._

"_You gotta eat something," Tokomon insisted._

"_He should've come back by now," TK said putting his head down. _

_Yet again the scene changed. The little TK was lying down on a table looking out onto the lake with a leaf over him as a blanket. Tokomon was standing next to the little child who was rolling in his sleep. _

_Then the sun was back up and TK was standing looking out onto the horizon yet again. It was hard for him to tell how much time had passed, but it had to be weeks, maybe even months, since Matt had left. Tokomon was carrying a branch with red berries on it at TK._

"_He's coming back," TK said to himself, "Any minute now, I'll see his boat out there." _

_Then TK started crying. Tears flowed down the little boy's cheeks. _

"_Don't cry again," Tokomon said, worried._

"_He's gone I just know it! He's gone away like all the others! He said he'd be back in a couple of hours."_

_TK dropped to his knees and put his arms over his head, still crying heavily. _

"_Don't give up hope," Tokomon tried, but TK continued to bawl his eyes._

"_Hey," a strange voice said. It wasn't TK's or Tokomon's, "What's all the squacking about? DemiDevimon's my name, mind if I stop in?"_

"_DemiDevimon?" the little digimon said worriedly, "I've heard about you."_

"_Oh great…I'm flattered."_

"_Don't be. Nothing I heard was good."_

"_Ok, ok, ok, I admit. I used to be a bit of a wise guy, but that was only because I was working for Etemon. But now he's caput thanks to you guys for which I'm eternally grateful. Personally I never liked the guy."_

_He took his eyes off of the black winged bowling ball as TK stood up and asked, "Do you see my brother out there? He's in a boat."_

"_Oh, is that what's got you down, squirt? Well you came to the right digimon. What's his name, your brother?"_

"_His name is Matt…"_

"_Got it. Let me see what I can do. Back in a flash."_

_With that the digimon flew off, not looking back._

"_Maybe he has changed," Tokomon said watching the black digimon fly off._

"_You think?" TK said happily, obviously in a much better mood._

_It didn't take very long before DemiDevimon was flying back. He thought it was a little too quick of a return, and he still didn't believe that this digimon was one-hundred percent good. But he watched the memory anyways._

"_Sorry to keep you waiting."_

"_What about him? Did you find my brother? Did you find him?"_

"_Sure I did."_

"_Is he on his way back?"_

"_Wellll…. That's the bad news kid."_

"_What?" TK said, horrified._

"_It kills me to have to be the one to break this to you, but your brother isn't coming back. In fact, he never wants to see you again. He said he was tired of babysitting a crybaby."_

"_No way," said TK, tears about to fall yet again._

"_It can't be true TK!" Tokomon spoke up._

"_He called me…"_

"_Crybaby, yeah, that's what he said. He called you some other stuff too but I don't wanna repeat it. Anyway, he's gone."_

_With that TK exploded into tears crying. He turned and ran away._

"_Aw, now don't take it so hard"_

_He followed himself as a kid run away as fast as TK's little legs could take him. He kept running, and running, and running, until finally he couldn't run anymore. He sat down, back at the lake and was throwing pebbles. Tokomon was trying to comfort TK, but he continued staring angrily at the water._

"_Come on, Matt would never say stuff like that. Besides, we've been working on the crying thing and you're getting better. You really are. Don't believe that guy."_

_TK just put his head in his hands and Tokomon walked away to where DemiDevimon was sitting in a tree nearby. _

"_Hey pus."_

"_You have to stop lying to TK."_

"_Lies? What do you mean by that."_

_Tokomon was growing furious now. "You take back all those lies or you'll be sorry."_

"_My my my those are big words coming from a pink chub with an overbite. Besides, you don't have any proof that I'm lying, do ya?"_

"_Well, no…"_

"_There you go. You're just assuming the worst because of my background. That's not fair, that's prejudice, that's what that is. Just cause I'm not a cuddly butterball like you then you think I must be a bad guy. That's so, I don't know, superficial. It would…"_

_But then Tokomon attacked DemiDevimon. Pink bubbles shot from his mouth and hit DemiDevimon. TK came running up to his partner._

"_Tokomon, what are you doing?"_

"_What do you mean, TK?"_

"_I saw you take a shot at him."_

"_Don't be too hard on him TK. I understand what the poor guy is feeling. It's only natural he should be resentful that you found yourself a new friend."_

"_Hmph!"_

"_I don't know what's gotten into you, but I think an apology is in order."_

"_Well don't hold your breath."_

"_DO IT!"_

"_I will not. If you like that flying rat so much than maybe I oughta leave."_

"_If you won't apologize then you have to leave!"_

"_Do you really mean it?"_

"_Yeah, sure."_

_With that Tokomon turned and walked away. _

"_Go on!"_

_Tokomon stopped and turned around quick, saying, "I won't be coming back, you know."_

"_You don't see me crying about it, and I don't want these stupid gadgets either."_

_TK took his digivice and crest and threw them towards the water._

"_Come on DemiDevimon, let's go ride the rollercoasters!" TK said as he ran away towards the amusement park. Tokomon just stood there, watching TK leave him._

* * *

He woke up with a start, breathing heavily. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain came from his stomach. He took the blanket that was covering him and looked down on his stomach. He didn't have a shirt on, so he could see the big burn mark on his stomach. It was a big circle and it was bright red. It looked like it was starting to heal, though it looked pretty nasty yet.

He tried to get up with more caution now, and he finally was sitting up. He took this time to look around and was surprised that he recognized the place, seeing that he had only just been here a couple of days ago. It was Gennai's place, and he was all alone, just like his memory/dream.

As he heard a yawn, though, he realized that he was wrong. Tokomon was lying down next to him, slowly waking up.

"Tokomon," he said relieved.

The little digimon yawned before shaking its head and looking up at TK.

"TK!" the little digimon said happily before jumping into his arms. He held his partner close, but not too close because the burn was still hurting him.

"I'm so glad you're finally awake!"

TK didn't like the sound of that.

"How… how long was I out?" he asked as he remembered what had happened. He was standing in front of MagnaAngemon as MetalSeadramon's attack came rushing at him and then…

"Over a day and a half."

He had been out for a day and half? That attack must have really taken a lot out of him, but that wasn't the only thing on his mind at the moment.

"How did we get here?" he asked, but then a door to the room opened. His brother was standing at the door looking in, and he was surprised to see TK sitting up, awake.

"TK! Are…" Matt stopped as his eyes saw his brother's chest, "Oh my.."

"It's not as bad as it looks," he said quickly. Trying to prove his point he got up to his feet as quickly as he could and forced a smile. Matt didn't seem convinced, though he went along with it.

"How do you feel?"

"I feel grea…" but as he took a step he instantly was light headed. His feet gave out underneath him and he started falling. Matt quickly leaped across the room and stopped his descent. He put his arm around Matt who helped him back up to his feet.

"And you were saying," Matt said with a chuckle. TK let out a little laugh as well as the two of them walked out of the room, Tokomon walking in front of them.

"How did we get…"

"We'll explain everything later. We've been waiting for you to wake up."

"Sorry about that…"

"No, it's not your fault bro. We all would have waited here anyways. Everyone was worried sick about you."

He instantly doubted that. First off, ever since he had been back the others hadn't seemed to really care for him save for Matt, of course. But then there was his memory. Everyone had left him, even Matt and Tokomon. Did they really care for him as much as they said they did?"

"TK!" he heard a girl's voice yell as he saw a figure get up from the table in the middle of the room. He tried to see who it was, but he couldn't. The girl had already wrapped her arms around him and was squeezing him tightly. He was biting his lip so hard that he could taste blood so that he kept from screaming out in pain. This girl just wouldn't let go.

Finally, she let go of him and he was able to see who it was. It was Kari, and the relief was gone from her face as anger took its place.

"You just get back after being gone for four years and then you go take a bullet for your partner and nearly die! We all thought you weren't going to make it! You were hit by freaking MetalSeadramon's most powerful attack. You can't scare me like that, you selfish…"

He just laughed though and smiled. "It's good to see you too Kari."

Her anger didn't leave immediately, but she stepped out of the way as Mimi made her way to hug him. He made sure this hug didn't last as long though, and slowly pushed her away. She was crying into his shoulder and saying something he couldn't understand. Then, once Mimi was done, Sora walked up to him looking… guilty. Or was she scared of him? It was hard to read the red-head.

"I'm glad you're ok TK," she said softly, "For a second I thought you were…"

She then opened her arms up and he gave her a hug. After she was done, everyone else circled around him, staring at his chest. He hadn't realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and he instantly started to blush. Especially with the look Yolei was giving him.

"Ummm… is there an extra shirt around here?"

"Here you go," a familiar voice said from behind him. He turned to see Gennai standing in the open door they had just come through. Gennai tossed him a plain white tee shirt who put it on. He smiled gratefully at Gennai.

"Thanks Gennai. It's good to see you again."

"Good to see you as well, young one."

"Now," Gennai continued addressing everybody, "I believe we need to talk now. Let us sit down," he said motioning to the table. TK took the seat he had sat in when he had visited Gennai's before, and the others filed in elsewhere sitting with their partners.

"First, I believe you guys should tell TK what has happened since his passing out."

"Oh, can I do it?" Mimi asked excitedly. The others shared annoyed glances, but no one objected her. She took a deep breath. Willis, who was sitting next to him, nudged his shoulder. Willis whispered, "This should be good."

He smiled as Mimi started her story.

"Ok, well once upon a time…"

"Mimi!" Tai cut her off. She continued anyways, though.

"…there once was a young blonde…"

"MIMI!" more of them yelled at her. She looked appalled, but shook her head.

"Fine, well, after you 'took the bullet' or whatever Kari said earlier, you completely passed out. You were lying on the ground and your body started to deteriorate like digimon sometimes do before they die. We all were freaked out and we came running to see if you were ok. MetalSeadramon then tried to attack us, but MagnaAngemon started glowing. He digivolved to Seraphimon, his mega form and he defeated MetalSeadramon easily. Then he went over to Puppetmon and destroyed him easily as well."

He looked at his partner with a look of shock on his face.

"You took down two dark masters on your own?"

"Always the tone of surprise," the little digimon said, blushing a little.

"Anyways," Mimi continued, "We all got together and decided you needed to get to a hospital quick, so we left and tried to find one of the televisions back to the real world. As we were going, we heard LadyDevimon and Machinedramon. They must've found out what had happened to MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon and were headed to find us. Lucky for us, Gennai found us first and took us to his place. He was able to take care of you here, and you finally stopped deteriorating. And that's basically it, I think."

He quickly looked at Gennai and gave him a grateful smile who smiled back and nodded.

"Thank you Mimi," the old man said, "Now, can you tell us what happened off at Toy Town, TK?"

He was caught off guard at being addressed to all of a sudden, but he nodded. He looked down at Tokomon who nodded, showing his support.

"Ok," he started and then went into explaining everything that had happened. He left out the part about him not wanting Tokomon to fight though; that was a little too personal. He also didn't tell them how he had been feeling about being left out by the others, but other than that he told them everything. When he finished, some looked a little down by the news while others were happy.

"The Digimon Emperor is done for? And Neomnimon is gone? Yahoo!" Davis cheered.

"But poor Wormon," Kari said, not as enthusiastically as Davis.

"Oh," Davis said, stopping his cheering, "Yes, I feel bad for Wormon too."

That was a lie, and he knew it. He wanted more than nothing to punch Davis in the face, but he didn't.

"Well that explains the scar on your face," Matt said.

"Yes, the Digimon Emperor is destroyed and his evil digimon is gone, but we have more pressing matters to deal with. I'm sure you all are wondering why the Dark Masters are back…"

At this everyone sat up a little straighter and looked at Gennai imploringly.

"But first," Gennai continued, "I need to tell you, TK, something about your past."

He blushed a little bit. The dreams/memories he had been having so far hadn't exactly been the most happy of memories, but they were still private. He didn't want his life that he couldn't remember being said aloud for everyone to hear. It was… an invasion on his privacy almost.

Gennai looked at him, waiting to go on. He reluctantly nodded, and listened closely as Gennai started telling him a memory from his past.

"Ok, about two weeks ago your mother died. You were overcome with grief and had no one there to help you, being away from your family and your digimon partner. All of this sadness caused you to go to the Dark Ocean. The Dark Ocean is an evil world, separate from the Digital World, that feeds on said emotions. There is no happiness in this world, and its ruler, Dragomon, makes sure that anyone who falls into the Dark Ocean's clutches never escapes. You went there, but he did not realize you were there. You tried to get out of there, but you couldn't because of all the sadness and loneliness you had inside of you. Finally, though, you were able to go back to the Digital World using the power of your crest. Dragomon was not happy about this once he found out. He was more worried about trapping someone else into the world, though, so he let you go. He worked even harder at getting this person into the Dark Ocean… and he succeeded."

Gennai stopped and looked at Kari who looked like she was about to be sick. Gennai continued,

"Kari was trapped in the Dark Ocean by Dragomon, but you rescued her TK. You were under the Emperor's control and Tokomon had dark digivolved into a digimon named NeoDevimon, but you came to Kari's aid, nevertheless, and you forced Dragomon to retreat. The two of you left the Dark World, infuriating him even more. Now, all he cares about now is destroying you, TK. And by doing so, he has somehow brought the Dark Masters back."

Gennai finished and was followed by silence as the others tried to understand all that Gennai had said. Matt was the first one to speak up.

"So, this Dragomon character, he's not going to stop trying to destroy TK until he kills him?"

Gennai nodded, causing a few of the others to gasp. More silence followed, and he wasn't exactly sure how he felt about what Gennai had told them all. As Gennai told the story, flashbacks came to his mind. He was walking around a world without color, lost, hopeless, alone, kind of like the memory/dream he had earlier. Then, when Gennai said he had escaped the Dark World, he remembered being surrounded by darkness, falling without stopping. Then he was surrounded by a golden light and was rushing back upward. And now, because he had been able to escape that world, this digimon, Dragomon, was now out to kill him, and in doing so he would go so far as to kill his friends as well? This digimon needed to be stopped, but in order to do so, it sounded like he was going to have to go back to this Dark Ocean. He wasn't sure if he was ok with that. But at least this time he would have Tokomon with him, if he didn't leave him again that is.

"Well, it's obvious what we have to do, isn't it?" Matt asked.

A few of the others were confused, but Tai spoke up, "He's right. We need to bring down Dragomon and the rest of the Dark Masters. We can't have them threatening TK like this. He's one of us, and now that he's back we have to protect him."

He had to stifle a laugh at the look on his brother's face. Matt's jaw was completely dropped in shock as he stared at Tai. Apparently he hadn't been expecting Tai to agree with him.

"Tai…I…" Matt started, but he couldn't go on. Instead, TK smiled at Tai and said,

"Thanks Tai."

Tai nodded, ignoring Matt. A couple of the others joined in.

"Tai's right! We need to do this."

"Count me in!"

"Me too!"

"Don't forget about me!"

Finally all of the others had agreed to stay. They were going to fight Dragomon and the rest of the Dark Masters together. He was touched that they all were going to stay and fight with him. It meant a lot, especially since having that memory/dream.

Gennai looked over to him and gave him a look that seemed to say _See? These people care about you. _He felt uncomfortable that Gennai seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, but he pushed it off as nothing. Besides, the old man was right. They were going to go fight Dragomon and the Dark Masters together, and finish them once and for all.


	41. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Phew, this was one doozy of a chapter. It is the longest one of the story yet, and lots of action stuff happens. I'm sorry, but I don't really write the fighting scenes very well. I'm mostly ok at writing the other parts of the story, but the fighting scenes I'm a bit... not so good at. And this chapter has some important fights in it that I just kind of rushed through. Sorry about that. But yeah, this is a very long chapter.

Also, just to clarify before you read because it was so far back in the story that even I almost forgot about it, but remember when TK first escaped the Dark Ocean and Patamon wanted him to go back to the others but he couldn't because he had "bad memories" of the others from the Dark World? There's a part of the story where one of those memories is shown. Well, when TK has his dream/memory thing, it is a similar one to the one used earlier in the story. Just wanted to let you know that so no one got too confused.

Oh, and I almost forgot one thing. I know there's a lot of Takari fans out there and I want you to know that I AM A TAKARI FAN TOO and I CAN'T STAND writing with Davis and Kari as a couple, but it makes the most sense in the story. I hate to say it, but for this story there is going to be no Takari, but if you haven't noticed I've been trying my best to stay away from Daikari moments. Don't get me wrong because I don't hate Davis (he's actually pretty cool when he's not acting dumb), but TK's my man and he's meant for Kari. But yeah, no Takari for this story unfortunately, but if there is a sequel(which seems like there's going to have to be because of where I have this story ending) then you can count on Takari. Until then, I'm sorry.

Anyways, enjoy this chapter. I hope you like it and please review as always!

* * *

Chapter 41:

It was starting to seem hopeless. They had been wandering aimlessly around the Digital World ever since they left Gennai's, which was about ten, maybe twelve, hours ago. They had gone through a place called Factorial Town, they had walked by a frozen tundra looking area- which they stayed away from- and they even passed through some small villages, one being called Koromon village. They literally had to drag Agumon away from the place because he was eager to talk to the digimon there. Now, as the sun was slowly descending causing everything to get darker, they were walking through a place filled with big towers made of what looked like oversized children's building boxes. The towers were all kinds of colors and had different pictures on them. On one was a picture of a helicopter, on another a little car, and on another a cat.

The ground here- which wasn't really ground- was very soft and bouncy. It was sort of like a trampoline, and a couple of the digimon were bouncing ahead of them, laughing loudly. Everyone was laughing at the digimon except for him, but even he couldn't hold back a smile watching their partners.

As they continued their way through Primary Village, the digimon grew tired and stopped their fun. Patamon flew back over to him and landed on his head softly.

"I wonder where Elecmon is. He should be here," his partner- who had digivolved to Patamon right before leaving Gennai's- said, looking around the village.

"Elecmon?" he asked. Clearly Patamon sometimes forgot that he had lost his memory, ironic, huh?

"Oh, sorry, he's sort of like the guardian here. He protects and takes care of all the baby digimon here."

"There's baby digimon here? We haven't seen any…"

"They're here somewhere," Matt said, joining him as Gabumon caught up with Matt, "I'm sure Elecmon has had a rough time keeping them safe with the Digimon Emperor and everything."

"But," he inquired, still not understanding, "Why does he have to protect them? What is this place?"

"It's Primary Village," Gabumon said, as if that should explain everything.

"I know… but…"

"This is where all the digimon who have been destroyed are reborn," Kari said, joining in on the conversation as well. Gatomon was walking beside her along with Davis and his partner, whose name escaped him.

This didn't seem like comforting news because he instantly thought of Neomnimon and the Dark Masters.

"So you're saying every digimon we destroy just gets reborn? Isn't that sort of counterproductive, because then we have to keep destroying the same enemies over and over again? Seems like an endless fight to me."

"It's much more complicated than that." He turned and saw that Izzy, who was walking a little ways ahead of them, slowed his pace to join them as well. He must have been overhearing the conversation and decided to participate in it as well.

"What do you mean?" he asked, interested. This was information that he should already know about, but, thanks to Ken, he didn't remember any of it.

"Yeah, I hate to say it but I agree with TJ over there. What's the point in destroying the Dark Masters and Dragomon if they can come back, just like that?"

He instantly glared at Davis. His name was TK. T. K. Was it that hard to mess up? Davis looked at him confused, maybe Davis didn't realize he had messed up TK's name, but they both turned to Izzy when he started talking.

"Well, you saw it for yourself when MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon were destroyed. The…"

Matt coughed cutting Izzy off. The red-head looked angry at the disturbance; clearly he was preparing to go off on a big rant and didn't want to be interrupted. He didn't hide the anger in his voice either.

"What?"

"Umm, TK wasn't conscious when those two were destroyed."

Realization flooded over Izzy and he looked apolegitically at TK. "Sorry, I forgot."

"It's ok," he said, "I'm sure I saw something similar to what you were about to explain when I watched Neomnimon die."

The red head nodded and continued, "You're right. When a digimon is destroyed, their data floats away and is sent to Primary Village, here. Once it gets here, the data is reconfigured, or restored. Think of your computer at home and deleting everything on it. It's kind of like that. This causes the evil programming that had become a part of that digimon's data to be deleted. The data becomes brand new and is reborn as a digi-egg. It doesn't mean that the digimon can't become evil again, it just means the old evil data was destroyed and it has to start anew."

He nodded. That made sense to him. He kept forgetting this place was, well, inside of a computer so everything was made out of data. It was hard to grasp, but at the same time it was really cool to think about as well. As he continued thinking, a memory came back to his mind. Angemon was destroyed by Devimon, but he had still come back as an egg.

"So we most likely will never see MetalSeadramon or Puppetmon, or even Neomnimon ever again, right?"

They all turned and saw Cody walking next to Yolei and their partners. TK was surprised that the boy had actually spoke; he didn't think he remembered ever hearing the boy speak up.

"Most likely, yes," Izzy nodded, smiling down at the boy.

"Good, I don't know about you guys but I don't ever want to see those ugly faces again!" Yolei said.

"That's what we said when we first destroyed them four years ago," Kari sighed.

Silence followed and they continued walking in silence through the village. Tai, who was leading the group along with Sora and their partners, turned back to the others and waited for them to catch up. When they had, he started,

"I think we should take camp, guys. Primary Village is a safe place, and it's getting late out. We need to rest," he said looking at TK. He rolled his eyes. Like he had said before, he wasn't a little kid anymore and didn't need the others to watch out for him, but a good night's rest did sound nice. He didn't tell anyone, but everything was killing him. His legs were sore, his arms were sore, he had a headache, and, not to mention, the burn was still healing. Before they had left, Gennai had given him some sort of cream to put on it and it had instantly stopped burning and almost felt normal, but he could still feel a tingling sensation and knew that it still needed more time before it fully recovered.

"I agree, I am pooped," Mimi said as she crashed to the ground, "And I think this is the perfect spot!"

Sora did the same and gasped when she flew in the air a little ways because of the bouncy floor. She started laughing, though, and said, "I agree."

Seeing that Sora had decided to stay here, Tai nodded and said, "This is good!"

He saw his brother roll his eyes before he fell to the floor as well, along with all the others and the digimon.

"Are you sure this is the greatest place to be?" Willis asked. Everyone looked at the blonde boy strangely save for Michael, Mimi, Matt, and TK. Apparently all the others still didn't feel comfortable being around Willis or Michael just yet, seeing that they were new to the group.

"It does seem to be right out in the open. Enemy digimon could spot us easily," Michael added.

"But... it's so nice here," Yolei complained. She obviously didn't want to move anywhere too soon and neither did the others.

"I, unfortunately, have to agree with Willis and Michael," Matt said, "We don't want the Dark Masters to find us out here in the open."

Everyone sighed as they reluctantly got to their feet and moved towards the woods surrounding Primary Village. They walked a little ways into the woods until they came to a clearing in the trees.

"Is this good for you guys now?" Mimi asked pointing to Willis.

"Yes," he said with a smile on his face.

"I think we should build a fire," Joe said while rubbing his arms. TK hadn't realized it, but as he thought about it he could tell it was significantly colder, and the temperature was still dropping.

"Agreed," everyone else said.

"TK and I will go and get some wood for the fire," Matt said, "Come on TK."

He was pulled away from the others by Matt. He wasn't dumb, though; Matt just wanted to use this as an excuse to get away from everybody. Did he have something he wanted to talk to him about?

"TK," Matt said once they were far enough away where nobody would hear, save for their partners who were rustling through the forest to find their partners.

"What?" he said innocently.

"TK, I…" Matt hesitated before putting his hand on his little brother's shoulder, "I can't have you going off on your own like that. I just got you back after four years of not seeing you. Four years! You know how hard that was on me? I didn't want to think it, but when you never came back, I started to think you could possibly be gone for good. I was about to give up all hope when I finally got you back just a couple of days ago. And then you went off and almost got destroyed by Neomnimon, and… I wasn't there for you. I… I guess what I'm trying to say is I can't lose you. Please don't leave me again."

Matt finished and TK could see tears threatening to fall from his brother's eyes. Matt must have been trying really hard to hold them in, and he was doing a good job of it. But what was his brother trying to say? Him being gone had obviously affected Matt in ways TK would never have thought, but what was Matt getting at. Was he trying to tell him that he couldn't go off on his own anymore? That he had to stay next to his big brother all the time so he could protect him and be with him? He quickly tried to think of a way he could tell his brother how he felt without breaking his heart.

"Matt, I can understand how hard this has been on you…"

"No!" Matt shouted grabbing TK by the collar+. His brother lost control of the tears now as the streamed down his blonde brother's face. "You have no idea how difficult this has been! First you move off to France with Mom and I never get to see you. Then, Dad starts working non-stop and never comes home anymore. Then we hear that Mom is dead along with our grandparents and you have disappeared. And, even now, you are back but you have no memory of me or any of the others, who had given up on you completely might I add, and you don't even want to be around me anymore even after how long I've been searching for you! You cannot possibly understand how difficult this has been for me."

Matt released him. Clearly this had been on Matt's mind for a long time and he just now was getting able to release it all. He felt anger rising up inside him, but he pushed it down. This was his brother, and he had all the right in the world to be angry at him, even though it wasn't necessarily his fault for anything. Unless you count the staying back in the Digital World and going off to Toy Town while they invaded Ken's fortress.

"What do you want me to do Matt?" he said calmly, more calmly than he expected. He felt an ocean of emotions inside of him, but his voice sounded like those waters were peaceful. "I can't change the fact that I've hurt you. I can't change the fact I no longer have a memory. There's nothing I can do."

Matt didn't answer at first. He took a deep breath and let him go, for which TK was thankful. He noticed his partner and Gabumon standing off a little ways, watching the two brothers talk.

"You can do something," Matt said, the anger fading from his voice, "You can try to _remember_ your past. You can start rebuilding your relationships with the others, with Dad, and… with me. I know you can do it."

He didn't like the way Matt said remember. "Are you trying to say you don't think I've lost my memory."

"TK," Matt said defensively, "You've been through a lot. Maybe once all this 'Dark Masters/Dragomon' thing clears up you'll be able to relax and maybe the memories will come back."

He shook his head. "There's no way I'm going to remember everything Matt. Maybe a couple of bits and pieces here and there, but I'm never going to be the same person I was. I'm not the little TK you remember and want back. I am me."

"I.." Matt started, "Are you sure you won't remember TK?"

"YES! I lost my memory because of the dark spiral! My whole mind was wiped clean. It's like all the data in my brain has been reconfigured. It's not possible for me to remember my past, and you need to accept that."

Matt suddenly found an interest in looking at his shoes. TK sighed. It was because of things like this that he liked to be alone. He never argued with himself. He never got screamed at or held up by his collar by himself. On his own he could think and not have to worry about other people. He didn't know if he was ready to give that freedom up just yet.

"TK…" Matt attempted, trying to think of something to say. But he failed.

TK sighed, "Look Matt. Little pieces are starting to come back, but all they seem to be are bad memories. They happen while I'm asleep, and it's like I'm watching the event as a ghost. But other than these dreams or whatever they are, I don't remember anything. I'm sorry."

It took a while, but Matt finally nodded. "Fine, I'm convinced. But you're sure you…"

"I'm sure!" he cut his brother off.

"But you're willing to try to remember? We can help you fit the pieces together."

"I… it's worth a try," he said, not wanting to crush his brother's hope that he would somehow be able to remember everything. He was the 'digidestined of Hope' after all, so shouldn't he be giving hope to others?

Matt smiled before putting his arms around TK and hugging his little brother. TK returned the embrace. As they hugged, he heard Patamon laughing in the background.

"I told you they'd be fine. You're such a worry-heart Gabumon."

"I guess you're right."

He finally pushed away from the embrace and Matt let him go. His older brother looked a lot happier than he had ever been, almost as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders or something.

"Umm, I hate to interrupt you two," Patamon's squeaky voice said nearing the two of them, "But we should get back to the others before they start to worry."

"Good idea," Matt said.

"But the firewood," TK added, remembering they were supposed to bring some back.

"No problem," Gabumon said as he made his way to one of the trees. He shot a blue flame towards the bottom of the tree and then kicked it. The tree came tumbling down and landed loudly right beside the wolf digimon.

"I can't let you have all the fun," Patamon said as he too flew over to a tree. He sent a couple of air bubble-attacks at the tree and it didn't take long before that tree as well was lying on the ground.

Gabumon then looked a little worried, though.

"Umm, what now?" the digimon asked.

"Now would be a good time for our ultimate levels," Patamon answered.

"Right," Gabumon smiled.

The two digimon started glowing and changed quickly into their ultimate forms, WereGarurumon and MagnaAngemon. WereGarurumon cut through his tree with his claws while MagnaAngemon used his purple energy sword to do the same. In a matter of seconds, the two ultimates were standing next to two big piles of chopped, ready-to-use firewood.

"Impressive," Matt said.

"You got that right," he added.

"Now, shall we go back?" MagnaAngemon asked with his strange, deep voice. TK nodded, and the two digimon picked up the piles of firewood and they walked back to the rest of the group.

They could hear the others' voices close by when Matt put his hand on TK's shoulder, stopping him.

"TK, promise me you won't leave me again. That last time… I thought MetalSeadramon really killed you."

He didn't answer right away. If he promised, would he never be allowed to be on his own again? Would Matt be by his side twenty-four-seven? He didn't want that, but at the same time, if he was ever going to get back on track with his relationships with the others then he would have to. So it came down to that, didn't it? Was he ready to be with the others? Did he want that?

"Matt I…" he stopped himself. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I promise."

Relief spilled over Matt's face before he turned and took him to the others.

"There you guys are! Where have you been?" Tai asked a little angrily.

"Just talking, and doing what we told you we'd do," Matt said snidely pointing to the firewood as the two digimon sat it down.

"Well, next time, don't be so long. We were starting to worry about you guys."

"No need to worry about us!" TK said with a smile.

Tai rolled his eyes as if to say 'Whatever' before he walked over to the firewood and set it down in the middle of the others. Agumon walked over and lit the wood. With a couple more pieces of the firewood, the fire quickly got bigger, and the others moved closer to the fire. Now, the sun was completely gone, and the chilling night was starting to get to all of them.

They talked for a little while, mostly about how they could find Dragomon and the rest of the Dark Masters quickly and destroy them as soon as possible. TK had a bad feeling that they wouldn't have to go looking for the Dark Masters or Dragomon; if they really wanted him dead then they'd definitely be looking for him. It wouldn't take long before they found him.

After a bit, they finally decided to call it a night. TK found a nice patch of ground and laid on his back. The grass was very soft, and with Patamon sleeping next to him, it didn't take long before his eyes shut and he was having another memory.

* * *

_He sighed. 'Not another one of these,' he thought to himself. He was starting to get tired of… whatever these were, and none of them seemed to be very happy either. Why did they always have to be negative memories? He opened his eyes, but he was confused. He closed his eyes and opened them again, but nothing changed. All he saw was complete darkness. But then, above him he saw some light. He flew, which he had no idea how he did that, upward and caught the scene._

_This one was different from all the others. He saw himself standing next to Patamon in the middle of a forest, but he wasn't a little kid. He had to be the same age he was right now, so this had to be a pretty recent memory. He listened closely as the two started to speak._

"_Patamon? What's wrong?"the not-so-young TK asked._

"_I.. I don't know TK. I don't think we'll be able to see each other anymore," Patamon answered._

"_What? I'm seeing you right now."_

"_You are still in the dark world. You are its prisoner and there is no way anyone can save you. You are going to die there. Bye TK."_

_At that time a hole appeared right under TK and he started falling. He watched Patamon, as the little digimon smiled, watching TK fall. Suddenly, he was pulled downward and was falling right next to the image of himself._

_The scene changed and he was standing on… a beach. But this world was different. This world had no color in it at all. The sand was gray, the water was black, and even the trees and plants had no color to them at all. _

_He saw TK- once again he wasn't a kid, but he looked the same age as he did right now- and TK was standing on the beach. TK's eyes were shut and he was shaking, as if he was thinking of something really bad. He felt bad for himself, and he walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. _

_As soon as he had done so, everything had changed. He was in the middle of a clearing in the forest. Matt was standing next to MetalGarurumon facing TK and MagnaAngemon. He was standing right next to TK, himself, and heard Matt talking._

"_I don't fu***** want you around anymore TK. You are the reason Mom is dead, and our grandparents for that matter. You don't belong in France, and we sure as hell won't want you back in Odaiba. Dad has already disclaimed you as his soon, and Gennai is working on taking your digivice away from you. No one wants you anymore TK!"_

"_That's not true Matt! Why are you being like this!" TK yelled back at his brother. _

_Matt just laughed. "I hate you TK. That's why I'm being like this. I want you and your pathetic partner destroyed. MetalGarurumon… attack!"_

_MetalGarurumon took a leap towards the unsuspecting MagnaAngemon. MetalGarurumon had MagnaAngemon pinned to the ground._

_He hadn't realized it, but Matt had already made his way to TK and punched him across the face. He watched himself fall to the ground spitting blood out and trying to get up. Matt kicked him, though, and laughed. _

"_MetalGarurumon, let's finish these two for good!"_

_MetalGarurumon snarled before jumping back and launching millions of missiles from its body to MagnaAngemon. They hit their target and a big explosion resulted._

_After that, he was back in the color-less world. He saw that TK had his eyes open, but was panting and was covered in a cold sweat, fear and sadness obviously evident in himself. _

_What had he just witnessed? Matt would never do anything like that, would he? And what was he doing blaming TK for his mother's and grandparents' deaths? He didn't have anything to do with it, didn't he? Honestly, he couldn't remember how they had died. Then he got to thinking, 'What if I _am _responsible for their deaths?'_

_He heard laughter coming from behind him and he turned instantly. He was in a memory so nothing could hurt him, but after what he saw he was completely on edge. What he saw didn't help him calm down either. _

_Piedmon was standing a little ways off next to a big, blue marine creature. He had red marks all over his big head which looked identical to a squid. He had a purple pear necklace around his neck and both his arms, or tentacles to be more exact, were bound together by chains. He also was holding onto a huge trident. _

* * *

He woke up with a start. He was now the one panting and covered in a cold sweat. This had been one of the worse of his memories, and he wasn't exactly sure what it was. He hadn't really died, so the part about Matt killing him couldn't possibly be real, could it? He honestly had no idea what to make of the memory, except that it didn't sit easy with him.

It took him a while, but he finally calmed down. Once he did so, he realized he no longer was with the others. In fact, he wasn't anywhere close to Primary Village. And, to top things off, he was bound by chains to a tree.

He looked around and saw Patamon next to him. He was chained to a tree as well, but the digimon also had a gag in his mouth. Patamon was making noises, but TK couldn't understand what his partner was trying to say.

"I'll get us out of here Patamon, don't worry," he said, looking the digimon in the eye.

Patamon's eyes filled with horror, though, and he instantly heard why. He turned around and gasped at the sight. Standing in front of him was a demon, a lady demon. She had whitish-gray hair and wore a black mask over her face. There were two ghouls coming out of her; one on her shoulder and another coming out of her elbow. And she was laughing, evily of course.

"Oh, you will won't you? I honestly don't see how you could do that."

"You're wrong. The others will come for me, and we will destroy you and the rest of the other Dark Masters and Dragomon."

"Just thought I'd let you know; Machinedramon is currently destroying your friends."

TK remembered enough from what the others told him that Machinedramon was very strong. It seemed like he was much stronger than MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon. And since this wasn't Piedmon or Dragomon- whom he assumed was the blue marine digimon he saw in his memory/nightmare- that meant this digimon was LadyDevimon.

"No, they will defeat Machinedramon. I know they can! I have hope in them!"

Suddenly a golden light shot out from his pocket where his digivice was. He and LadyDevimon, and Patamon, watched the light shoot through the night air off into the distance. Once it was out of sight, LadyDevimon turned to him, snarling.

"What sort of trick was that!?"

TK didn't answer. He honestly had no idea what had happened. It seemed like it was one of the beams that had shot out from his digivice a couple of days ago, and he hoped it would help the others with their battle against Machinedramon.

He watched LadyDevimon draw her hand back as she slapped him hard across the face. He gasped as the pain shot through his face. He tried to move his hand to the spot he had been hit, but all he did was move the chains a little bit.

"Sad I have to take you to Piedmon for him to destroy you. I would have loved to do it myself. But they never said I couldn't have a little… _fun _with you first."

She quickly moved her claw and placed one of the talons on his face. She pushed and it pierced his skin. She slowly moved her hand down. TK tried to move away, but he was stuck. He was holding back tears and was struggling to hold back a cry of pain when his digivice started glowing again. LadyDevimon stepped back.

"Stop it! What are you doing?"

TK looked to his side where Patamon had started glowing as well. He smiled as he heard his partners bonds breaking.

"TK, time to digivolve!" Patamon said urgently.

"Right, do it!"

He watched as his partner changed forms. Instead of going to Angemon first, though, he went straight to a form he had never seen before. Patamon was now a huge angel with silver and blue armor. He had ten wings and was wearing a mask that sort of looked like a knight's mask except for the yellow cross in the center. LadyDevimon was simply backing away, fear evident in the digimon's face.

"Strike of the Seven Stars!"

The angel formed seven balls of light and threw them at LadyDevimon. She tried to dodge, but she couldn't; there were too many to dodge them all. The attack hit LadyDevimon who instantly caught on fire and let out a piercing scream. Then the fire ceased and the she-demon deteriorized into millions of pieces of data that all floated away to Primary Village. TK instantly had an idea.

"Uh… I'm guessing you're Seraphimon?"

Seraphimon nodded.

"Right, it's a pretty impressive form if I do say so myself. But, hey, we should follow that data stream. If the others are still in Primary Village then it will lead us right to them!"

Seraphimon started glowing again and dedigivolved into Patamon who smiled at him.

"Good idea TK. Let's go."

"Right."

* * *

"Giga Canon!"

Matt quickly opened his eyes as something exploded off to his left. At first he thought it was some crazy dream, but then he saw the others running around frantically as another attack exploded, this time closer to him.

"Matt come on!" Gabumon said frantically.

He didn't take the time to respond. Instead he quickly got to his feet and ran off to where the others were. As he did so, MetalGreymon, Angewomon, MegaKabuterimon, and Digmon were running the other direction. Matt turned around and immediately started running faster. It was Machinedramon.

"Matt!" Gabumon said.

He knew what the digimon wanted. He nodded and said,

"Digivolve!"

Gabumon started glowing and changed forms first to Garurumon and then to WereGarurumon. WereGarurumon ran off in the other direction as he ran to where the others were standing, watching the battle in horror.

After about five minutes, all of their digimon were fighting Machinedramon while they stood close to the trees watching their partners fight the Dark Master. They were lucky Machinedramon was all alone, but they were unlucky they didn't have WarGreymon or MetalGarurumon to fight. They were there only two mega digimon, save for Seraphimon, but they couldn't digivolve past ultimate. And Machinedramon was handling the ultimates rather easily.

"This is rather boring," Machinedramon said, stopping his attacks. Their digimon took the chance to attack Machinedramon. All of their attacks were a dead hit and caused a big explosion. The younger digidestineds wooped and hollered, but the older ones knew better. Just as they expected, Machinedramon was standing there completely unharmed.

"Catastrophe Day!"

Millions of missiles launched from Machinedramon. The digimon moved to get out of the way of the attack, but there were too many missiles. He had to cover his eyes due to the brightness of the explosion. When the smoke cleared, what he saw was not a good sight.

All of their digimon were on the ground, not moving. Machinedramon could be heard laughing as he walked to the fallen digimon.

"That was too easy. I expected you digidestineds to put up a better fight."

He could hear Tai practically growling next to him. The others were yelling out at their partners, trying to see if they were ok.

"It looks like it's the end," Michael said sadly.

Joe gulped, "It was nice knowing all of you guys."

Matt hated to admit it, but they were right. It sure did look like the end.

"No, we're not done yet. We just need a miracle," Davis said simply, as if he and his partner weren't about to be killed at the moment. As soon as he said that, though, a gold beam of light came out of nowhere and flew right at him. Matt watched in amazement. He thought he had given everybody all of their crests. Were there more he didn't know about?

Davis yelled and jumped back as the light struck him. When the light stopped, a gold object appeared out of thin air right in front of him. Davis hesitantly grabbed the object, and instantly his partner, Raidramon Matt believed his name was, started glowing the same color of the digiegg. Raidramon dedigivolved back to Veemon and then changed forms again upon Davis saying, "Golden Armor Energize."

The rest of them watched Veemon change forms. Matt was sort of jealous that Davis and his partner got new forms like that, but his jealousy was pushed to the side when he saw the new digimon.

He could tell the digimon was still Veemon from the blue tail, body, and head that was showing, but it all was mostly covered by golden armor. The digimon looked, well, awesome to put it shortly. The digimon cast a golden glow that surrounded all of the other digimon. Matt watched in awe as all of the digimon got up to their feet. Then MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon started glowing and changed forms. Matt smiled as he saw MetalGreymon for the first time in a long time. Now they were going to be able to defeat Machinedramon.

"Oh, my digimon is so awesome!" Davis cheered.

Kari, who was standing next to Davis, smiled and said, "Of course he is. He is your partner."

"But," Willis pouted, "My crest is miracles. Not Davis."

"Tough luck, blondie," Davis said sticking his tongue out at Willis who just turned away from Davis.

Matt turned his attention back to the fight and saw Machinedramon do that "Catastrophe Day" attack again and Mat frowned. 'Not again,' he thought. But then Magnamon and his own partner sent millions of missile of their own which intercepted Machinedramon's. There was another big explosion, but this time, none of their digimon were hurt.

"Not fair," Machinedramon growled as the digidestineds' digimon all sent their most powerful attacks at Machinedramon. They all combined and hit Machinedramon, and this time Machinedramon was deleted from the attacks. Once Machinedramon's data had started floating away to Primary Village, which was close by, their digimon all started to glow and revert back to their rookie forms except for Agumon, Gabumon, and Veemon who went to their in-training forms.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!" Yolei yelled loudly as she ran to her partner.

The others followed suit including Matt. He picked up Tsunomonand smiled at his partner.

"It's great to have you back! You were awesome."

"Thanks Matt," the little digimon said, blushing.

Matt laughed and looked around for his brother. As he did, he realized something. He hadn't seen MagnaAngemon or Seraphimon fighting, and TK was nowhere to be seen among the group. He continued looking around for his little brother, but he had no luck.

"TK!"


	42. Chapter 42

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon!

Another chapter. Hope you like it and please leave a review. Thanks!

* * *

Chapter 42:

"Matt!" Tai shouted angrily.

To say he was furious would be an understatement. Ever since he realized TK was missing he was yelling at the others demanding them to tell him if they knew where his little brother could possibly be. Of course no one knew where TK was which didn't necessarily surprise him, but the fact that no one else seemed worried really upset him. Was he the only one who could put two and two together? Dragomon wanted TK dead, and if TK was missing, then… He stopped thinking about that as the possiblilty that his little brother could be dead came up. He shook his head.

"What!?" he yelled just as loudly back. He still had a grudge on Tai, though he hated to admit it, for not only taking Sora but also from not being his best friend anymore. They used to be such good friends, and he thought they'd always be there for each other. But once TK left and Matt needed someone to help him, Tai had gone away. For that, Matt wanted nothing more than to punch Tai in the face. He held himself back, though, as Tai answered.

"You're overreacting! Stop this now!"

Matt clenched his hands into fists. He didn't know how long he could hold himself together before he pulverized Tai. "What are you talking about!?" he said through gritted teeth. He saw a couple of the others exchange nervous glances as they watched the two arguing. They obviously didn't know what to make of the situation.

"What I'm trying to say," Tai said calmin down a little, "is that TK has gone off on his own a lot. He's probably just off on his own again."

"No," Matt replied, shaking his head, "I made him promise he wouldn't do that anymore."

"And you think a couple of words are going to bind him here forever? He probably…"

"I'm telling you right now, Tai, TK is in trouble. He promised he wouldn't go off on his own again. I trust him!"

Tai sighed. "I know you do Matt, but he's been… different. I'm sure you've started to realize TK's not the same little kid anymore."

"What are you getting at Tai?" Matt said, his anger threatening to boil over.

"I'm just saying he probably didn't mean his promise. In fact," he let out a low chuckle, "He's probably forgotten the promise he made to you by now."

That was it. It was bad enough that Tai didn't care for TK at all, but now he was making fun of his little brother? He saw a couple of the others laughing as well, and he just couldn't deal with it any longer. He ran right at Tai and pushed him out of the way. He made his way through some of the others, pushing them as hard as he could, and he continued to run. He didn't look back. They obviously weren't going to be looking for TK, and if they weren't going to do that then he wasn't going to stay with them.

"Where do you think you're going, hotshot!?" Tai yelled at him. He didn't stop, though; he couldn't stop. He no longer wanted to be with the others, not after the way they had treated him and TK. He was done with them.

"Matt!" he heard his partner's voice yell out. When he turned back he saw he had put quite some distance between him and the others who were just staring at him, watching him run away. Matt felt bad as he watched his tiny digimon hopping as fast as he could to him. He walked over to his partner and caught the digimon as Tsunomon leaped into his arms. He caught the digimon and turned around, walking farther away from the others.

"You can't leave me like that Matt!" Tsunomon said seriously.

He sighed, "I'm sorry Tsunomon, it's just… I can't be with the others right now."

"I understand, but are you really sure about leaving them? Even if I can become MetalGarurumon again, I'm still not sure how well I could manage Dragomon and the others alone."

He hesitated at first. He didn't want to get into any trouble, especially since if he got caught he wouldn't be able to help TK. But at the same time he couldn't be with the others without hurting one of them, most likely Tai. No, he had to stay away from the others.

He opened his mouth to tell his partner what he decided when he heard a rustling in the trees. He turned to where he heard the sound and fear gripped him. The evil digimon started laughing and Matt winced. He always hoped that he wouldn't have to hear that laughter ever again, too many bad memories. But here Piedmon was, standing right in front of him smiling wickedly.

"How great it is to see you again, digidestined," Piedmon spoke with mock enthusiasm, "Off looking for your little brother, are you?"

"What… I mean, yes I am. But what's it to you?" Matt replied loudly, hoping that maybe the others would hear him. He saw Gabumon shift nervously as the jester digimon talked to them.

"Oh, nothing," Piedmon answered with an evil smile, "It's just I know where your brother is."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH TK!?"

"Woah, no need to lose yourself. It makes you look like you're desperate."

"Where is TK?!" he shouted back not listening to Piedmon. The clown obviously knew where TK was. "Show me where he is!"

"As you wish," the digimon said, smiling, "Trump Sword!"

Two swords flew right at him at such a high speed that he had no time to react. Lucky for him, though, both swords flew right by his shoulders. He smiled, but then he realized the swords had caught on to the shirt he was wearing. He flew back and slammed into a tree.

"Matt!" he heard Gabumon yell, worried, but then he heard his partner scream out of pain as Gabumon too slammed into a tree.

"So, you wanted to see your brother, did you?" Piedmon asked walking up to him, "Then let's go see him!"

* * *

These were the moments he had thought he liked the most. He was away from people, he had Patamon resting on his head, and it was a beautiful day in the Digital World. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the digital sun shone brightly in the sky above. He should have felt relaxed, peaceful even.

For some reason, though, he didn't feel this way. Instead he felt nervous, scared, and upset at himself. He was wandering aimlessly around the Digital World knowing there were at least three digimon- Machinedramon, Piedmon, and Dragomon- who were dying to get their hands on him and… kill him. Honestly, he wasn't ready to die. He also couldn't shake off the feeling that he had let Matt down. He had broken his promise he made to his brother. Although him breaking the promise wasn't exactly his fault, he couldn't stop himself from feeling guilty about it. Maybe Matt knew something was wrong and there was a reason he was missing from the group, or maybe Matt was angry at him thinking that he broke their promise willingly and was off on his own yet again. The latter was most likely true.

He had lost the trail the data stream cast a long time ago. Apparently digital data streams didn't have any speed limits because LadyDevimon's flew off into the distance and was gone before he knew it. He knew the general direction the data was taking, though, and so he kept walking.

He hadn't seen anything new, though, for a while. He hadn't come across any familiar places, and Patamon, sleeping and resting from battling LadyDevimon, and Patamon wasn't telling him where he was. He didn't wake his partner, though; he knew the digimon needed to rest, especially since they never knew when Piedmon or Dragomon would attack them.

As if on cue, he heard an evil laughter come from behind him. He stopped dead in his tracks; the laughter was the same one from one of his memory/dreams. Before he turned around to look at the uninvited guest, he already knew who it was. He looked behind him, and as he saw the black and white mask the digimon was wearing, his suspicions were confirmed.

"Piedmon," he said darkly. He heard Patamon slowly wake up from the spot on his head and when the little digimon gasped TK suspected his partner had seen the jester digimon.

"You don't seem too excited to see me, child of hope."

"That's because I'm not."

"Oh, a tad of arrogance I see. Much expected, but do you have anything to back up your pride with?"

"Well, why don't we find out, right Patamon."

"Right," Patamon replied.

"Do it! Digi…"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Piedmon warned.

TK shook his head. Maybe he didn't hear the clown digimon right. "What did you say?"

"I said I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"And why's that?" he asked, frustration coming through his voice.

"That is simple. If you digivolve, then your nasty brother gets to be killed. Look for yourself. Piedmon stepped to the side and upon doing so, TK saw his brother Matt, and Gabumon tied to a tree just like he had been this morning, except instead of chains binding the two, they were held to the tree by a rope of some sort. He had a nagging feeling that the rope holding his brother and his partner was the same one from his memory. Matt looked at him with a worried look on his face. TK didn't like this situation at all.

"Let my brother go!" he said much more demanding and serious than he felt.

"Oh, trust me, I don't want your pathetic excuse for a brother and his digimon partner any more than you do."

"Wh… what do you mean?" he asked.

Piedmon laughed. "Come on, hope, it doesn't take a genious- though there is no doubt that I am- to realize you don't want your brother or any of the other digidestineds around in your life."

"You're lying," he said shaking his head.

"If you say so…"

"I do! I love my brother! I love the others! I would do anything to protect them!"

"Oh," Piedmon said, his eyes lighting up, "Anything?"

"Yes!" he said loudly, hoping to convince himself he was right, not the jester digimon.

"So you would, let's say, go to the Dark World with me all by yourself? Cause that's the only condition where I would let your brother and his partner go."

He hesitated. He had to save his brother, and Gabumon for that matter, but if he went with Piedmon… he would die. He looked right at his brother, staring into his eyes. Matt was trying his best to shake his head and convince him not to do it, but TK saw all that he needed to.

"Yes," he said slowly, "I would."

"Excellent!"

At this, Piedmon clapped his hands and the air in front of him opened up creating a gap in the atmosphere. He could see into the hole in the air and saw darkness. He instantly knew that this was a portal, but not a portal back to the real world. It was a portal to the Dark Ocean.

"TK, you can't go," Patamon said. The little digimon was now flapping his wings right beside him, not taking his eyes off of Piedmon.

"I'm afraid I have to Patamon," he said sadly, "I don't think there's any other way Piedmon will let Matt and Gabumon go."

At this, Matt made many grunts trying to yell something at him, most likely telling him not to do it.

"Enough chit-chat," Piedmon announced, cutting all of them off, "You have a decision to make. Come with me to the Dark Ocean or watch your brother die. The choice is yours."

TK sighed. This wasn't going to end well no matter what happened. He was stuck. It was either his brother was going to die, or TK was going to die. He knew what he had to decide. Besides, he had promised himself he wouldn't let anybody risk their lives to protect him anymore. He had broken that promise too many times already, but this wasn't going to be another one of those times. He took a step towards the portal.

"I'll go."

Piedmon laughed and Matt continued trying to break free of the rope. Patamon tried to follow him, but Piedmon quickly moved his way between TK and Patamon.

"TK! Don't do it!" Patamon yelled.

"I… I'm sorry Patamon."

With that, he stood right in front of the portal to the Dark Ocean. He was starting to have second thoughts, but then he was pushed from behind into the portal. As he went through the portal he could hear Piedmon laughing saying, "Oops!"

* * *

She wanted nothing more than to go back to the real world and go to bed on her nice, soft bed with Gatomon by her side. She hadn't been able to relax at all since they had last come to the Digital World. They were faced with danger after danger and could never catch a break. First it had started with looking for the Digimon Emperor's fortress. Then MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon showed up. Next, they stayed at Gennai's for a couple days waiting to see if TK would be fine, which, thank goodness, he was. And now, just after they had defeated Machinedramon there was this.

She knew why Matt ran away; she thought she would have done the same thing in his shoes, but she still felt upset at Matt for doing it. They didn't need to be separated at a time like this, especially since Dragomon, Piedmon, and LadyDevimon were roaming the Digital World looking for them. It also didn't sit well with her that TK was gone. Why did he go off on his own again? Didn't he know just how serious these times were? He had a death sentence, and running off on his own wasn't really the safest thing to do. And she couldn't live without TK now that he was back.

Those were some interesting feelings. She always felt guilty whenever she was around TK because she had given up on him completely. He used to be her best friend, and when he had moved away to France four years ago, she couldn't keep herself from blaming him even though it wasn't his fault. She was just too young to understand why her best friend had to go.

Ever since he had come back, though, she realized just how dumb she was. It wasn't his fault he had to move to France, and she now understood that. And after all he had been through now, she wondered just how hard that move was on him before he lost his memory. Maybe if they had stayed friends and she helped him through any troubles he was going through because of the move, then maybe he wouldn't have ever gone to the Dark Ocean and now have that death sentence on him.

She knew now how much she had missed TK over the years. When she had first saw him smile, even though he probably felt lost, confused, and scared, she could still see the hope inside that she had cherished so much in the old TK. Now, though, TK was much different from the little kid she remembered. He still had the blonde hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen, and the same hopeful smile as she mentioned before. But he was much different. He had grown a lot over the past four years and he now longer had a childish look about him. TK looked a lot older and like he had gone through a lot, which he had. He seemed a lot wiser than his age. And she couldn't help but agree with Yolei whenever she told her how "hot" she thought TK was.

But now he was gone again, and she didn't know if she would ever see TK again. She vowed to herself, though, that she wouldn't lose hope on TK this time. She needed him to be alive; if he died she'd never forgive herself. She needed the blonde digidestined.

Now they were walking through Primary Village trying to find TK. Tai had decided to leave Matt be until he blew off some steam. She had noticed how much the two disliked each other recently, and she had tried talking to both of them about it, but they both would avoid the conversation. Something clearly had happened that was breaking the two of them's friendship. She had to find out what that was and try to restore it.

"Guys, quiet!" Izzy said suddenly. They all stopped their talking and Kari shook her head and looked to Izzy in confusion.

"What is it Izzy?" Tai asked, voicing her thoughts.

"Shhhh!" he said urgently. Tai glared at the red head, but Izzy simply pointed off into the distance and they all saw what he had meant. The Digimon Emperor- or should she start calling him Ken?- was kneeling next to one of the digi-eggs. He picked the egg up and she saw that it was white with a pink pattern on it. She wondered if it was Wormon's digi-egg.

They could hear the Em... Ken, crying. She felt bad for him despite all the wicked things he had done. He must have changed if he was getting so emotional, right?

"Guys, I think we should avoid him," Joe said.

"I agree!" Yolei said violently, glaring at Ken.

As they said those, though, Ken looked up and watched them in confusion.

"Yeah, let's go," Tai said hurriedly.

Now it had been a couple of hours or so since they had saw Ken in Primary Village; they still hadn't found Matt or TK. Kari was starting to wonder if TK had really went off on his own or if something bad had happened. What if he was… no, he couldn't be.

She wasn't too worried about Matt, though. She wasn't happy with him for leaving, but she remembered from their previous advnetures that the blonde boy liked to go off on his own a lot. Kind of just like TK's new interest in leaving the group. The two brothers were much more similar than they and all of the others realized.

"Did you hear that?" Sora asked suddenly.

They looked at her in confusion and she explained, "I heard a noise. It sounded like someone is in danger."

"Are you sure you're…" Tai started, taking Sora's hand.

Then she heard it too. It sounded distant, but she could still make out who it was and what they were saying.

"Help!" she heard Patamon scream out yet again. This time everyone had heard it.

"Hurry guys!" Davis yelled as he suddenly ran off in the direction of the noise. They made their way through the trees and they finally found Patamon. He was flying in the center of a small clearing, and when the little digimon saw them he looked relieved but still worried.

"Patamon, what's wrong?" she asked the little digimon.

"TK's gone…."

That wasn't Patamon, though. She turned and saw Matt who looked like he had been crying for a long time.

"What do you mean gone?" she asked walking over to Matt who was sitting against a tree with Gabumon.

"Piedmon. TK's in the Dark World now."

"What!?" the others yelled from behind her. She put a hand on Matt's shoulder to comfort him, but he pushed her hand off.

"Piedmon found me first and kidnapped me and Gabumon. Then he brought us to TK and he threatened to kill me unless TK went with him to the Dark Ocean. I tried to tell him not to, but Piedmon had a gag in my mouth and I couldn't talk. Of course TK went with Piedmon… and now…."

"And now he's all on his own," Patamon finished for Matt. "I shouldn't have let him go! I should've tried to fight Piedmon! But TK ordered me not to…"

"It's not your fault Patamon, and it's not your fault either Matt. We'll find TK," she insisted. The others were simply watching the two of them talk.

"No, we don't have a way to get to the Dark Ocean. We cannot follow…"

"Umm, I can help you guys there."

They all turned at the new voice and a couple of them gasped when they saw Ken holding the same egg he was before.

"What are _you _doing here!?" Yolei yelled at him loudly.

"Please listen to me…"

"And why should we do that!" Matt retorted. "You erased my brother's memory. You threatened and killed countless numbers of digimon! Why should we listen to you?"

"Guys, give the man a chance."

Out of all the people she would've thought to say this, it was Davis; her boyfriend. He was looking at Ken with a look of sympathy.

"Davis…" she started, but he cut her off.

"We have to give him another chance. Besides, he may be able to help us."

She smiled at her boyfriend. Right now he was being so… mature. It may be stupid, thinking of giving Ken, the Digimon Emperor, a second chance, but the fact that Davis was willing to forgive and help Ken move on was… touching.

"Davis, don't you remember he was the Digimon Emperor?" Cody asked, glaring at Ken.

"I think we should hear Ken out," Willis added.

"I agree," Mimi piped in, coming to her friend's aid. "Let's at least here what he has to say."

No one opposed, and Ken gave Davis, Willis, and Mimi a grateful look.

"Did you guys say you were trying to get into the Dark Ocean?"

"You know how to get there?" Matt asked, piping up.

"Unfortunately, yes. I have been there before, and I think I can open up a portal that will take you there."

"You can do that?" Tai asked, dumbfounded.

Ken nodded and Tai added, "Well then, do it!"

The purple haired boy nodded and took out his dark digivice. He raised his arm while closing his eyes, focusing. Suddenly, Ken was shaking all over and was screaming out in pain as something started to form in the air. It was a portal, Kari could tell that much, and it must be one to the Dark Ocean.

Davis ran over to Ken and put his arm on his shoulder letting Ken know that he was there for him. Ken continued to shake, though, so Kari followed suit and stood on the other side of Ken. Davis smiled at her and she smiled back before they both closed their eyes.

She focused as hard as she could on opening the portal. She thought about how bad she'd feel if she didn't open up the portal, and she thought about how much she had to have TK.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ken finally stopped shaking. He was panting, and when Kari opened up her eyes she saw that he was very pale and was sweating profusely. She looked towards the portal, though, and smiled. There it was; their pathway to the Dark Ocean.

The others were speechless as they stared at the portal. They watched it for a couple of seconds before, without further notice, Matt ran at and jumped into the portal. He fell into it and was gone.

"Umm… should we follow?" Sora asked.

Before she heard an answer, Kari also ran for the portal and jumped through it. TK could be in trouble and she needed to get there as fast as she could.


	43. Chapter 43

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon!

Ok, so here's the last chapter! Not! Or is it? I guess you'll have to wait and find out :p ... but this chapter is... sad. It hurt me that I had to write it, but I told you I might go with a darker ending. Or maybe I'll make it a happy ending? Should there be another chapter? Well, you should let me know what you think in a review! But either way it's going to be this or maybe another chapter, but then this story is finished. I can't believe it! This story seemed like a big hit, what, with like 225 reviews! I'm so happy, and it's all because of you reviewers out there! You all have taught me things to watch out for in my writing and you've made my writing better! Plus all the encouragement was the only thing that made me want to go through with this story! So thank you, all of you who reviewed.

Like I said I might come up with a sequel. Daemon is still out there after all (and he may or may not be the one causing TK's dreams/memories, though I haven't decided yet). I have some plans forming for this sequel, but it may be a while before I post it, especially since I haven't decided if this is the last chapter or not.

Anyways, enjoy this chapter please! And let me know what you think about another chapter and a sequel in the review. Thanks guys!

**EDIT A/N:** **Just to let you all know, I do and have planned on writing one more chapter (I only wanted to play with you guys and see your reactions of this being the last chapter haha). Anyways, I just wanted you all to know that there will be another chapter coming; it just might take me a while to post it up cause I've been busy lately. But there will be another chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 43:

So there they were, standing right in front of him not saying anything. The two evil digimon were simply staring at him with wicked smiles on their faces as they watched him. Piedmon looked like the same clown creep TK saw in his memory/dream which wasn't much consolation to him; he felt like he had never liked clowns very much growing up, though he couldn't tell for sure. Dragomon also looked the same as he had in his most recent dream/memory as well. The Dark Ocean ruler was standing tall- ten feet maybe- still holding his trident. The tentacles of his squid face were moving of their own free will which sort of creeped him out seeing that there wasn't any wind in the Dark Ocean.

This dark world wasn't helping him either. It was just like Gennai had said; this world didn't allow happiness in it at all. There was no color, no joy, no… life in this world; everything that he had found appealing in the Digital World. That wasn't good for him. Hope, he would consider was a 'happy' trait. Hope was joyful, the light at the end of the tunnel sort of thing, but how could hope exist in a world where only darkness existed. 'No,' he thought to himself, 'Darkness cannot rule. Good always has to win,' but the more time he spent glaring at the two evil digimon he found it was harder to hold onto his hope. He was in the Dark Ocean, a world with no light or hope, all alone, and two digimon who wanted nothing more than to kill him on the spot were standing right in front of him. It was hard to have hope in a situation like this.

"So, the infamous 'Hope' is here in my world again. Welcome back!" Dragomon said with an evil smile.

Piedmon smirked as well, "Tiz great indeed. Now you can help us with the next act!"

"I will never help you!" he tried to yell convincingly at the two evil digimon, but the Dark Ocean was affecting him greatly. It didn't take long before any hope that he'd survive this meeting left him completely leaving room for fear, bitterness, and sadness to overwhelm him. The two digimon laughed at his poor attempt.

"Ha! But I think you will after we're done talking with you," Dragomon replied.

'What,' he thought to himself, 'Why don't they just kill me already?' He winced when he realized what he had just thought. He was the child of hope and he should be using his power if he still had any, but here he was accepting his death sentence. Was this world really that strong?

Piedmon laughed almost as if he had heard his thoughts, "Isn't this place just wonderful? Oh, not for a being like you, but for us evil digimon we _thrive _here."

"Agreed," Dragomon added, nodding.

Great, so even if the others were able to make it here by some miracle they might not be strong enough to defeat the two digimon. Especially since they were supposedly the strongest in this world.

"Don't worry about the others right now; they won't be here for a while," Piedmon added, once again seemingly reading his mind. How was the creep of a digimon doing that?

Piedmon laughed manically looking right into the blonde boy's eyes. A wave of fear surged through him.

"And how do you know that?" he asked Piedmon.

"I have my sources," the jester replied simply.

"Enough with this nonsense," Dragomon cut off sounding dead serious, "We have other matters to discuss."

"Like…" he asked, waiting for the digimon to respond.

"You've been lied to, child of Hope," Dragomon said.

Now he was confused. "Lied to? How so?"

"We don't wish to kill you," added Piedmon.

"What?" he exclaimed. Maybe he didn't hear the two digimon right.

"We aren't going to kill you… yet," Dragomon said.

"Why? I thought…"

"Exactly! You thought!" Piedmon cut him off. "You've been told all these things by the people who are supposedly you're 'friends.' I want to ask you something, Hope, are these people really your friends?"

What were these two good-for-nothing digimon trying to get at? Of course they were his friends, but then his memories came back to his mind. All of his friends leaving him and Matt to wander the Digital World alone all those years ago. Matt telling him he'd "be back in a couple of hours at the most" and then watching himself as a kid wait weeks upon weeks crying, all alone. Tokomon yelling at TK and turning his back on the little blonde kid. Then Patamon saying "You're going to die there. Bye TK." And finally the vision of him and his brother along with their partners' fighting, Matt battling ruthlessly. All of these had happened, yet none of them told these stories to him.

"Yes, you have been through so much, but do these 'friends' of yours really care for you?"

"O… of course," he heard him reply hesitantly to the jester.

Dragomon laughed, "Listen to you! You are simply in denial. Of course the digidestineds don't care for you. If they did, wouldn't they be here right now?"

"No, Piedmon made me come here alone," he tried.

"Look," Piedmon said. He waved his hands and the air in front of him sort of opened up. TK watched and his mouth dropped. All of the others and their partners were there. They were sitting in some sort of park under a big tree that was next to a playground. The digidestineds along with their digimon were laughing, having a great time. Even Matt seemed like he didn't have a worry in the world. Kari appeared to be the happiest girl alive and said something before leaning over to Davis sitting next to her and giving him a kiss. He watched the others laugh and talk before his eyes landed on Patamon. His partner flew onto his brother's head and asked Matt something. All of a sudden he could hear their voices.

"Hey Matt," the squeaky voice belonging to his partner asked his brother, "Do you think you want to be my partner. I'm sure you won't allow me to be destroyed like TK had in the past and almost had recently. I never really liked him anyway."

"I don't blame you Patamon. I'd be happy to have you!" Matt said, smiling.

"Great!"

They all burst into laughter once again before Piedmon waved his hands again closing the image. TK took a deep breath as he tried to take in what he had saw. Surely all of that could not have been true. His frien… the digidestineds would never do that to him. Would they? But he found it hard to convince himself of that. Surely Matt and… Patamon, they'd never treat him like that! It couldn't be true!

"No. You are liars…" he said quietly.

"I am and can be many things, child of hope, but I would never be a liar!" Piedmon said, sounding offended.

"It can't be true…" he tried again, but Dragomon cut him off.

"Yet you find it easy to believe, don't you? If they were truly you're friends you would know for sure how they would feel about you! But look at you, you don't know what to believe! That is proof enough that you know how they feel towards you!"

"Think about it!" Piedmon added, "The others have lived without you for four years! Then they hear you disappeared, but did any of them care? Did they come rescue you? No, they let you wander aimlessly around the Digital World to get trapped and put under the control of that Emperor buffoon. Even when they finally saw you with their own eyes they never tried to help you! And now, they regret you being back. Why do you think they are not here right now? They want you to be dead! Even the ones you call brother and partner."

TK kept shaking his head, but the more Piedmon talked, he found himself slowly starting to believe the jester's words. Dragomon continued,

"Your brother hates you! He will never forgive you for what you did to him. You ruined your parent's marriage as a child causing you and your mother to leave. He doesn't want to see you anymore! And then your partner. Ever since he died facing Devimon…"

At this TK winced. This he knew to be true, he had seen it with his own eyes in his dream/memory.

"…and you let him die in the battle, he hasn't forgiven you. He only came back to you after he died because he had to. And then recently, I've watched you, ruthlessly thrust your partner into battles where he almost was destroyed again. You wonder why he fights so eagerly. He's hoping he will die in order to get away from you! Your partner despises you along with everyone else."

Silence followed as the blonde stared at his feet. He knew none of this could be true, or could it? How could he possibly know? He'd only been with the other digidestineds for a couple days now. They had seemed to care for him, or was that all an act? What these two evil digimon were saying made sense and seemed to fit the space too well. And he found tears slowly coming to his eyes from the struggle inside of him.

"Child of hope," Dragomon said, almost concernedly.

This tone of voice was strange for this evil digimon. He sounded like he was deeply concerned for the digidestined, so TK looked up, but then he gasped. His eyes landed on the digimon's pearl necklace which was now glowing. He tried to move his gaze, but his eyes were frozen on the spot.

He stared at the digimon's necklace for minutes upon minutes before it finally stopped glowing. He tried to back away from the two evil digimon who were laughing maniacally again, but his legs wouldn't budge.

"That was much too easy," Piedmon laughed.

"Agreed… and oh, look. Here come the others, right on schedule. Look for yourself, Hope."

Instantly he turned around, but he didn't control the movements. Something was wrong here, and he needed to figure it out fast.

Once he was turned around, though, he felt relief flood him. A bright light appeared in the air, just like the one Piedmon created, but out of the light popped his brother along with Patamon and Gabumon. Following him was Kari and Gatomon. Then Tai, Sora, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, Davis, Yolei, and Cody all with their partners. The portal then closed shut. The others had come for him! They really did care!

"TK!" Matt, Patamon, and Kari all yelled with smiles on their faces.

He tried to run at them and yell back, but once again his body didn't obey his commands. Something was wrong. As he stared at his friends- yes friends, not just digidestineds anymore- he watched their faces fill with fear as they looked at something behind him, Piedmon and Dragomon more than likely.

"TK! Get away!" Matt yelled, worry in his eyes.

He heard Dragomon laugh from behind him. "I'm afraid this boy isn't going to listen to you anymore. He's just now found out how much you all hate him, and now he wants his revenge by watching the two of us kill you all, right now. Isn't that right child of hope?"

Against his own free will he nodded and smiled, "You couldn't be more correct Lord Dragomon."

'What am I doing!' he screamed inside his head. He tried to talk to Matt and the others, but his voice failed him, or it wouldn't allow him to speak. Then he remembered the glowing necklace of Dragomon. He must be under some sort of control or something, but how could he break through it?

The crushed faces the others' had hurt him. Did they really think he would say something like that? Matt, Patamon, and Kari at least didn't seem to buy it.

"TK, what are you talking about?" Patamon's squeaky voice asked in confusion.

"Yeah, TK, what is…" Kari tried, but he cut her off, unintentionally.

"Shut up! Destroy them Lord Dragomon!" he yelled.

"What about me?" Piedmon asked, sounding hurt.

"You too," he added quickly.

The others barely had time to react before the two digimon behind him charged. TK breathed a sigh of relief, though, when his friends' partners digivolved to their strongest forms. Now facing Dragomon and Piedmon was a golden digimon he never saw and a humanoid war-dragon-looking digimon he also never saw along with MetalGarurumon-who he unfortunately did recognize from his dream/memory-, Lillymon, Garudamon, Zudomon, MegaKabuterimon, Shurimon, Digmon, Rapidmon, Antylamon, and MegaSeadramon. And then there was Patamon amongst the group of digivolved digimon looking right at the blonde digidestined. Patamon looked confused and hurt, but once Dragomon and Piedmon started attacking the digimon, he joined the fight doing as much as he could in his rookie form which wasn't much.

As he watched the battle, he realized just how strong Dragomon and Piedmon were. Maybe what they had said earlier was true; they really did thrive in this world. Their movements were so fast and the others found it hard to dodge all of the attacks. Also, it seemed as if none of the digidestineds' digimon's attacks did any damage to Piedmon or Dragomon.

He didn't notice Kari and Matt run up to him as he was watching the battle. When he suddenly heard their voices right beside him, he jumped, but of course his body didn't listen to his directions, and instead it simply turned to face his brother and Kari. He could tell he was smiling, and by the looks on their faces it wasn't a pleasing smile.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely.

"We came over here to talk some sense into you!" Matt replied angrily.

Kari nodded, "What happened TK? Why are you being like this?"

He stayed silent for a little while, not purposefully though. He finally answered back, "Why do you think I'm being like this? You guys hate me! None of you care for me, and Piedmon and Dragomon understood. They helped me more than you guys' ever did, and now I'm here to repay the favor."

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked, confused, "Why do you think we don't care for you? Talk to me TK," Matt tried, grabbing his shoulder. Instantly, he pulled his arm back and he tried to stop himself, but he had no control over the fist that whacked Matt in the face. Matt flew off his feet from the blow and landed hard on his back. Kari gasped and looked at TK, fear in her eyes.

"TK, what was…"

Then his hand went flying through the air and slapped Kari right across the face. He stared at her, smiling, as tears formed in her eyes.

"TK…" she tried.

He was so angry by what "he" had done. He couldn't forgive himself with the way he assaulted Kari and his brother under Dragomon's control or not. He could feel tears coming, but instead he just stood there smirking at Kari, unable to move or do anything due to Dragomon's control. Then, Dragomon's voice called out from where the battle was going on.

"Child of hope! Get over here!"

He reluctantly followed as his legs carried him to the spot where Dragomon was standing. As he walked over he saw the others looking at him in horror and then to Dragomon and Piedmon with fear and then to their partners with worry. Tai ran right past him shoving him, but his controlled body didn't even budge as Tai ran to check up on his sister. Now his eyes saw the digimon. They all were on the ground, not getting up. They had cuts all over their bodies either from Dragomon's trident or Piedmon's swords. Piedmon and Dragomon were now standing around a lump on the ground for some reason. They had evil smiles on their faces as they watched him walk up to them. TK felt dread inside of him as he saw the lump was Patamon, his partner.

As he reached the two evil digimon, he saw Patamon looking up at him with worry in his eyes. The digimon was clearly hurt by the scratches all over his body, and he felt terrible for allowing this to happen to Patamon. Why couldn't he just break free of this control?

"I want to hear your word, child of hope. Shall we destroy your partner," Dragomon asked placing his trident threateningly on his partner's neck.

'No,' he screamed in his head out of fear. This couldn't be it! This wasn't supposed to be how all of this ended! They were supposed to win; good always triumphed over evil, that was the hope that carried them to face Dragomon and Piedmon with such courage. It was because of this hope that he was able to defeat LadyDevimon so easily not so long ago. But now that hope was gone. There was nothing to do.

"Destroy…"

"TK, NO!" he heard Kari scream from somewhere behind him. His body instantly turned around to see the brunette running right for him. Before even his possessed body had time to react, she had wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. His body was frozen in shock.

He heard Dragomon and Piedmon start to come closer, but Kari hurriedly told him, "This isn't you. You can break through this, whatever it is. We all care for you and want you and Patamon back with us! We all…" she stopped, but then whispered quietly, "… I love you."

Then without any warning whatsoever the girl- already close to him from the hug- leaned in and pressed her lips on his. His eyes opened wide in shock, but then he realized… his eyes had opened wide in shock! He acted on his own free will. Dragomon's control was broke!

She quickly pulled back, blushing a little- which looked absolutely adorable to him- but still looking determined. She watched him carefully, looking to see what happened. He was so happy; he was free! But he had to have a little fun with this, even if it was a death or life situation.

He pushed her away- it was very slightly, though- and her eyes saddened. He turned around and walked back up to Dragomon and Piedmon who were smiling evily at him.

"Well?" Piedmon asked.

"Destroy…" he started glaring at Patamon. His partner closed his eyes in defeat, and then he continued, "…them Patamon!"

The last two words caught everyone off guard. He pulled out his digivice and looked back at his partner who was smiling up at him.

"Digivolve!" he said causing Patamon to start glowing. Instead of digivolving to Angemon and then MagnaAngemon, Patamon changed forms right to Seraphimon. The glowing light faded and the tall angel in silver and blue armor was standing tall in front of him. He turned around to Kari who still had a shocked look on her face. He beamed at her.

"T… TK…"

"Kari, I'm so sorry for hitting you," he said, cutting her off, "It wasn't me."

"I know… but... You can't do that to me TK! You had me thinking we were goners!"

"TK!" he heard a familiar voice yell out. He looked and saw his brother- who had a big bruise forming on his left cheek- running for him followed by the others.

"Are… you ok?" he asked, gaining control of his breath.

"I am now. Matt, I'm so so…"

"Don't worry about it," he said waving his hand showing him it was nothing.

The others were smiling at him and he couldn't help but smile back, but then he remembered the fight going on behind him so he turned and saw Seraphimon dodging several of Piedmon's swords as he threw them. Then Dragomon thrust his trident at Seraphimon, but the angel digimon simply kicked it out of the way. But Dragomon and Piedmon weren't about giving up. They kept launching attack after attack leaving Seraphimon on the defense, and when the angel finally had a chance to launch an attack, the two evil digimon simply dodged it.

TK looked behind him at the other digimon, but they were still on the grond recovering. They were too beat up to continue fighting. It looked like it was going to be just Seraphimon in this battle, and he didn't know how much longer it was going to take before one of the evil digimon's attacks hit its target.

"Hallowed Knuckle!" Seraphimon yelled finally having a chance to attack. He drew back his fist and shot an energy beam at Piedmon just like Angemon's Hand of Fate. TK was instantly reminded of his memory of his last fight with Piedmon as the jester yelled, "Clown Trick!"

Seraphimon's attack was reversed and flew right back at him. Seraphimon wasn't expcting it, just like last time, and was hit by his own attack. He flew back and landed hard on the ground causing a violent shake. He watched in horror as Seraphimon lay on the ground. For a couple seconds that seemed like forever, Seraphimon stayed on the ground.

"Trump Sword!"

"Forbidden Trident!"

He watched in horror as the two evil digimon's attacks shot right for Seraphimon, but then his partner quickly got up and moved out of the way before taking to the air again. He breathed a sigh of relief, but then the endless "Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Attack, Dodge" started back up. Piedmon and Dragomon didn't seem to be tiring, but Seraphimon was losing his finesse. His movements were growing sluggish and his attacks missed their targets by more and more every time.

"It's hopeless!"

"We should just try to get out of here while we can,"

"We're not strong enough."

"This is the end guys…"

He listened to the others' complaints and worries and almost said something similar, but then he realized something. Look at how far they all had come! He had been able to break free of the Emperor's control, thanks to Kari. He was finally reunited with his friends and brother and father after not seeing them for four years. They had stopped the Digimon Emperor and destroyed Neomnimon, and along the way they destroyed MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, LadyDevimon, and- he guessed cause he wasn't there- Machinedramon. It didn't seem possible that they would have made it that far, but they had. And even now, he had his partner in his strongest form fighting what was going to be the last fight against Dragomon and the last of the Dark Masters. This fight was it; it decided whether good or evil won. Like he said, they had made it this far, against all odds. They couldn't just give up hope now! Not after everything they've been through.

"Guys, this isn't the end! Don't give up hope!" he said, believing every word he said despite the Dark Ocean trying to grasp onto his hope. He fought the world's powers, though, and continued, "Look how far we've come! We didn't go through all that we did just to give up now! We can't stop believing, stop having hope! We can do this."

The others let his words sit as they watched the battle. Slowly their looks of fear faded as they all started to nod. He caught Kari's eye and saw her smiling at him.

A glow coming from right behind the others caught his eye. He looked and saw the others' partners were glowing. Then, his digivice started glowing and shaking along with all of the others who took theirs out as well. He watched the little device in shock, and then a yellow beam shot out from the digivice and flew off behind him. He turned and watched the yellow light, accompanied by other various colored beams as they flew through the air towards Seraphimon. The beams of light struck Seraphimon who started glowing white. The two evil digimon watched in amazement as the angel started glowing brighter and brighter and they had to shield their eyes.

"MetalGarurumon!" he heard his brother call out and quickly ran off. TK managed a quick glance behind and saw all the others' partners dedigivolving into their rookie forms. He quickly looked back and saw both of Seraphimon's fists glowing a bright white in the dark world.

"No…" he said quietly, but then he realized what was happening. It was the same thing that happened with Devimon. "Seraphimon!" he yelled, running as close to his partner as he could, but his digimon was floating up in the sky.

"TK… I'm sorry," Seraphimon said softly looking back at TK. TK could feel tears forming in his eyes.

"Hallowed Knuckles!" Seraphimon yelled as he drew both of his fists back and thrust them forward. Two beams of white light shot out from his fists as they flew towards Piedmon and Dragomon.

"Clown… Trick?" Piedmon said, knowing the attack wouldn't work.

"NOOO!" Dragomon yelled in pain as the beam of light shot right through him. TK watched the two evil digimon slowly deteriorate completely as the glow from Seraphimon died down. He looked up at his partner, and he couldn't hold the tears in any longer. The bottom half of his partner was now gone, and the rest of him was slowly deteriorating as well.

"SERAPHIMON!"

"TK…" the digimon said weakly, "I only have enough strength to take you and everyone else out of here. Use the portal and go back to your world. I'm going to miss you TK."

"But… What do you mean you're going to miss me? Won't you…"

"No, the Dark World is not the Digital World… Now, go!"

Seraphimon lifted his hand right before it disappeared from the deterioration. TK saw a glowing white light floating somewhere next to him, but he kept his eyes fixed on his slowly dying partner.

"Seraphimon…" he tried again, but his partner shook his head. Now the only thing left was his partner's helmeted head.

"I love you TK…" Seraphimon finished as he fully deteriorated.

"I… love you too… partner," he said back, but his partner was no longer there. His partner… was gone.


	44. Chapter 44

Disclaimer(Oh my, this is the last disclaimer for this story... not sure if it's a good or bad thing yet): I do not own digimon or the Elf which I could not help but reference in this chapter; sorry if you think this particular reference is dumb but I thought it was funny and it made me happy I could use it in the chapter!

Warning: This chapter is pretty long! Also, there will be an author's note at the end. Hope you like this chapter, and sorry for any grammar errors!

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Chapter 44:

TK was welcomed back to the real world by the sounds of groans from the other digidestined. They didn't necessarily have a soft landing and they all were piled onto each other. He once again was the last to enter the portal so he had the luxury of being on the top of the pack. Matt and a couple of the others had to pull him through the portal because he didn't want to leave the Dark Ocean. It wasn't that he didn't want to get out of that world filled with sadness and had no color whatsoever, but that was the place his partner had died. He felt that by leaving the Dark Ocean he was betraying his partner or leaving his partner in that dark world all alone. But, his partner was gone, dead.

He got up off of Willis- he thought that was who he had landed on- and found that they all were back in Izzy's room. When he stood on his feet, though, he started feeling lightheaded so he quickly sat down on Izzy's bed which, thankfully, was right next to him. As he tried to recover, he kept reliving his partner's death. Why hadn't he done anything to stop it? And, even more disturbing, why did Seraphimon act like he wouldn't return as an egg? Didn't Izzy just explain to him how digimon never truly die? They are just reborn and their data is reformatted or something like that.

He vaguely noticed the others getting back to their feet, and he also heard a woman's voice call out from outside of Izzy's room. The digimon were trying their best to find somewhere to hide because no one was sure who was coming, but when Izzy's mother opened up the door to the apartment they all sighed in relief and started exiting out of the room. He stayed where he was though. What was the purpose of following them if he didn't have his partner with him? He wished he would just die as well. He was so upset with himself for not being able to do anything to save his partner; he had just… stood there.

Was it his fault that he had fallen under the control of Dragomon and whatever powers he used? Maybe if he was stronger… then Seraphimon wouldn't have… died. If he wouldn't have lost control of himself then Seraphimon would have been able to fight Dragomon and Piedmon with all the other digimon at their strongest levels. Then who knows what would have happened. Seraphimon probably wouldn't have died if that were the case… so that meant it was all his fault. His partner was dead because of him.

He felt tears coming, but he blinked hard trying his best to hold them back. He had cried so much these past few days. Tears were a sign of weakness, and for as long as he could remember he was weak. He cried when he found out his mother had died. He cried when Patamon had sacrificed himself for TK countless of times. He cried when he couldn't remember his loved ones, especially his own father and brother. He cried when Wormon had died while he gave up his life giving MagnaAngemon the strength needed to defeat Neomnimon. And now he was about to cry because his partner had died. Why did he always cry? Crying did nothing but make things worse, and instead of doing anything to help the situation he simply cried. He had stood, watching his partner sacrifice himself, and did nothing to save him. He had stood there… crying. He was a big cry baby, and he hated himself for it.

He stood up and stormed out of the room. He felt someone put their hand on his shoulder as he moved out of the room, but he pushed it off. He looked back and saw his brother looking up at him with a look of pity.

"TK…." Matt said hesitantly, locking eyes with him.

TK stood there for a moment, glaring at his brother, before shaking his head and continuing to move out of the apartment. He made his way to the door and opened it. A couple of the others including Izzy's mother had called out his name in confusion, asking where he was going, but he ignored them all and walked out of the apartment.

Once he was on the streets of Odaiba he started running as fast as he could, getting chilled in the night air. There were few people on the sidewalks, but those that were gave him the most disapproving of looks. He then realized that he had gone, what was it now, three days, without showering or changing clothes. He must have looked like a mess, but he didn't care. He didn't even know or care where he was running to. He just had to get away from everything and everyone, and every-mon for that matter. So much had happened these past three days that he just needed a break from all of it.

Once he was out of breath he decided he would slow down to a walk. As he reagained his breath, he looked up and saw he was at the beach. How he had got there he had no idea, but being there only reminded him of what happened at the Dark Ocean. He was too tired to run anywhere else, though, so he found a tree and sat down leaning his back on it.

As he sat there, he admired the night. A cool night breeze was blowing off of the ocean and the sound of the waves coming onto shore filled the night. Out on the water he saw little balls of white light which he realized were reflections of the star's high above. A couple of car horns would blare randomly and there was a siren in the distance, but other than the that, the night was peaceful. Everything seemed as if nothing was wrong, as if it were just any other night.

As he sat there, he realized that things weren't going to be the same anymore, or at least the same from the short time he remembered. He no longer was going to have Patamon to be with him everywhere he went, and it was going to be very hard on him to accept that. He needed time before he could accept that fact, and he knew that living here in Odaiba wasn't going to help. Odaiba, along with all the digidestineds and even his brother and family were not familiar with him. Every time he was around them he tried as hard as he could to remember something, anything, but he couldn't. Being here would just remind him of how he lost his memory. And then seeing the other digidestineds with their digimon... Also, they all had families, like Izzy. Izzy had his mom, his dad, and Tentomon. TK didn't have that. His digimon partner was dead along with his mother. All he had was his dad and Matt, and he didn't know if he could handle living with them just yet. It would be hard on them, all of them, that was sure, but they had lived without him for four years now. They could handle a little longer without him being there.

But then there was the matter of what he was going to do if he wasn't going to stay in Odaiba. He had already been to Paris, on an airplane, in a desert, and in Odaiba, and he didn't like any of it. He felt like he didn't belong, like a fish out of water. So that only left the Digital World- or the Dark Ocean, but he definitely wouldn't be able to handle that. As he thought about it more, he knew that was what he was going to do. He felt like he belonged in the Digital World, unlike the real world. And if he was going to stay in the Digital World for a while, then maybe he could help repair some of the damage done in places like Toy Town. There also were all the control spires scattered all over the Digital World that had to be destroyed now that the Digimon Emperor was done for good. Then he could also visit Primary Village and see if Patamon had returned somehow.

He didn't know how long he had spent sitting like he was, but when his thoughts finally came to a stop he realized he was starting to doze off. Right as his eyes were about to close for good, a voice called out disturbing the silent night. TK quickly opened his eyes and looked around for the source of the disturbance, but he didn't see anything. He was about to close his eyes again when he heard someone walking towards him. This time when he looked up he saw a young man standing in front of him.

The man had to be in his twenties, maybe thirties. He had brown hair that stood straight up except for a long ponytail that went down the man's back. He wore a black shirt underneath a cream colored robe. As the man took off his hood, he saw the man was handsome and looked familiar in a way, though he had no idea if he had ever seen this man before.

"Umm, I'm sorry but who are you?" he asked the man. He heard his voice was tired, but he was ready to get up and run away if this man made a sudden move.

"Oh, you probably don't recognize me like this," the man said looking down at himself chuckling a bit. He continued, "The name's Gennai."

"What?" TK asked as he rubbed his eyes and shook his head. Maybe he was dreaming, but the man did not change or anything. Instead, "Gennai" sat down beside him, leaning back against the tree.

"I've changed since the last time you saw me. Don't ask me how because even I do not know the answer to that," he said with a smile.

After Gennai had situated himself next to TK, the two of them sat there quietly, listening to the sound of the waves. He would have loved to fall asleep right then and there, but he couldn't with Gennai there. That would just be awkward.

Finally, Gennai broke the silence. "So, TK, what are you doing here exactly?"

"What are you doing here?" he countered. He had no idea Gennai knew how to travel between worlds and why he had come here to see him. Surely there were many other things the old man, well, young man now, could be spending his time on; things of more significance as well.

"I'm here to check up on you, of course," Gennai said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But… why? Am I that…"

"TK," the young man said, cutting him off, "you are more important and powerful than you could possibly imagine."

"But," he tried, "I don't have… I don't have Patamon."

Gennai nodded at this and TK could see the sympathy in the young man's brown eyes as they looked right into his.

"So I have heard."

"And I'm not going to ever get Patamon back again! I failed my partner Gennai, many times, and now I'm never going to have the chance to make it up to him! I failed Patamon!" he said, getting angrier at himself for every word. All this talk about Patamon was bringing back all the pain he had felt back at the Dark Ocean.

Gennai stayed silent for a while, but he finally took a deep breath and said, "Don't give up on Patamon just yet, TK."

"What do you mean?" he asked, still angry. "Seraphimon said…"

"That he wouldn't return after he died. It is true, Seraphimon's data may more than likely not make its way back to Primary Village, which I'm sure you've heard is the place where a digimon's data is reconfigured. You see, the Dark Ocean is not the same as the Digital World, but yet it is still connected. It is hard to explain, but the Dark Ocean, thought it is separate from the Digital World, is still linked to and is a part of the Digital World. If one of the world's were to be destroyed, for example, the other world would be destroyed along with it. Your world is also connected to the Digital World and the Dark Ocean along with many other worlds that I will not go into detail about."

TK's head was starting to spin as the man started explaining about all of these different worlds. It was too late for him to fully comprehend all the old man was saying, but he thought he had understood most of what Gennai had told him, though it didn't make much of any sense to him. And none of this related to his partner.

"What does all of this have to do with Patamon, Gennai?"

"Oh," Gennai started, "Well, let me explain. As I'm sure you've seen already, when a digimon dies, its data will float back to Primary Village where it is reconfigured and eventually is turned back into a digi-egg. Well, you saw Seraphimon turn into data, right?"

Gennai stopped and TK nodded. Gennai continued, "Well, Seraphimon's data will try to go back to Primary Village…"

"You mean Patamon can…!" he jumped in, a little bit of hope rising up inside of him.

"Let me finish TK," Gennai said strictly. TK stopped himself and the young man sighed.

"Well, this is where it gets to be complicated. A digimon's data is supposed to return back to Primary Village because digimon are not meant to die. But there are times where a digimon will become deceased in a world other than the Digital World. I know you don't remember it, but on your first adventure there was a digimon by the name of Wizardmon who sacrificed his life to protect Kari and Gatomon from the evil Myotismon. Wizardmon died because of his actions, and he was transformed into data, just like Seraphimon. Well, although all the worlds are connected like I told you before, a digimon's data can sometimes 'get lost,' per say, and it won't be able to make its way back to Primary Village. Wizardmon's data was not able to find its way back to the Digital World, and even today his data is somewhere here in the real world. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

He stayed silent as he soaked in all Gennai was telling him. "So," he started, "if I'm understanding you correctly, Seraphimon's data might not make its way back to the Digital World?"

Gennai slowly nodded and said, "That's right. I'm afraid to say that there are only very few times where a digimon has been reborn after dying in another world. I hate to tell you this, but there hasn't ever been a digimon who has returned after dying in the Dark Ocean. Again, I'm sorry you don't remember this, but the Dark Ocean is not an easy place to escape. You were only able to make it out of the Dark Ocean because of the power of your crest inside you. I would be very surprised if Patamon does indeed return."

"But," he said, not wanting to believe the last part of what Gennai had told him. He had heard all that he had told him, but all he wanted to believe was that Patamon could come back. "Patamon can come back?"

"Yes, and I believe if you keep hoping and believing in your partner it will help him make his way back to the real world," Gennai said, smiling a little.

That was all TK needed. He knew that Gennai was probably right and he would more than likely never have Patamon back, but he couldn't give up on his partner. It would be too hard to live without Patamon; he needed his partner to return.

Silence followed as they admired the night. The ocean waves were now silently lapping as they were drawn back out to sea; the tide was now going back out. The moon, a big white orb shining high in the sky, along with countless of stars reflected off of the waves making the ocean seem as if it were glittering.

Gennai again broke the silence, saying, "So TK, why are you here and not with your brother currently? Surely he, along with your father and the others must be worried sick about you running off like that."

TK put his head down. He didn't want to talk about what he had decided to do- running around the Digital World- with Gennai because he was sure he wouldn't approve.

"I…" he tried, but he couldn't find the words to say.

"TK," Gennai said, sounding as if he were a father disappointed in his little son's actions, "Running away is not going to help. I know it is hard on you, especially with your loss of memory, but I believe if you run away now, any chance you have of restoring your relationships with the others, with your family, will be gone. As hard as it may be to understand, you need to realize that they care for you deeply. They want you, no, they need you back. You are their hope, and no one can live without hope."

"They seem to have done quite well living without me," he snapped back. "I've been watching them since I've got back. They don't need me."

"That's not true TK," Gennai reasoned, "They do need you! Do you not remember your last battle in the Dark Ocean? If you were not there to save the day, the others would have died! They need you TK! And you cannot believe for even a second that they do not care about you! First off, if the others did not care for you then they would not have followed you to the Dark Ocean. It would be too much of a risk to fight some of the strongest evil digimon to save someone they did not care about! And think about your brother and your father. Did you not see how much the two of them missed you and need you when you first saw them? They haven't been doing well, and they've just about given up all hope in their life. With you back, though, their lives would be so much better. You may not believe it, but your family needs you. All of the digidestineds need you!"

TK hated it when he was wrong. He was so wrong. How could he possibly have thought he could run away from everyone else? Even if the other digidestineds could live without him, he wasn't sure Matt or his father would be able to go on if he had left for good. When he had saw them, they were both a wreck. The apartment was a mess and they looked like they hadn't got much sleep in a long time either. When they smiled at seeing him, it seemed as if they hadn't smiled in a very long time. And how much they cried; it was if they were letting out tears they had been holding back for, well, four years- the time he supposedly had moved to France for good with his mother. He could not leave Matt or his father alone! Besides, he had promised his brother he wouldn't leave him again.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he deicided he would go back to his family and the others. He found himself smiling as he thought about it more. As unfamiliar as this place was to him, Odaiba was his home. Matt and his father were the only family he had left now, and the other digidestineds were his friends, his best friends. Running away was never going to change his past, and, who knows, maybe he would be able to get more of his memory back the more he stayed in Odaiba?

"You're right Gennai. It was stupid of me to think I could run away."

"I'm glad to hear that," Gennai said with a smile. The young man then jumped to his feet and held his arm out for TK to grab a hold of. He did so and he was pulled up to his feet quickly, surprised by Gennai's strength.

"I think it's time you head home then. The others are very worried about you."

"How long has it been?" he askd, fearing the answer.

"Four hours," Gennai said, still smiling, "But, it will be ok. Do you know your way back to your father's apartment?"

He looked around Odaiba. Suddenly everything didn't have the strange sense of familiarity that he had grown accustomed to. He had no idea how, but he knew exactly where he was in Odaiba and he remembered the way to his father's apartment. He looked at Gennai with his mouth open a little.

Gennai laughed a little and said, "You might find you'll remember more the more time you spend here in Odaiba with the other digidestineds and your family."

"You mean I can gain my entire memory back?" he asked with excitement.

"I can't be one-hundred percent positive, but you never know what can happen with a little hope," he said with a wink.

TK didn't know what to say, so he just nodded and smiled showing his thanks to Gennai. He turned to walk away, but Gennai stopped him.

"One more thing TK, can you bring the others with you to the Digital World tomorrow. I need to talk to all of the digidestineds again. Can you do that?"

"Yes sir," he responded.

"Good, until then, see you later," Gennai said before pulling his hood up over his head and disappearing right on the spot. He wondered how Gennai had done that, but then he thought his mind might be playing tricks on them because he was so tired. If Gennai was right about it being four hours since he had stormed out of Izzy's apartment then it would be morning pretty soon. He needed to get to bed soon before he passed out.

He kept walking through the calm city, guided by his new memory of Odaiba. As he walked past building after building, he started recognizing some despite the fact most of the buildings had severe damage done to them. He walked past a bakery he remembered going to a lot as a child as well as an ice cream shop. Then he stopped when he came to his old school because it was completely destroyed. He remembered Matt telling him he and the others had fought enemy digimon for an entire day all throughout Odaiba, but he just now was seeing for himself the damage the digimon had caused. He felt bad for the families that were sleeping on the sidewalks with no where to go because their apartment buildings were destroyed. He hoped everything would be ok for these families, and somehow he knew everything was going to turn out all right, eventually.

Before he knew it, he was standing outside his father's apartment. He wondered if Matt and his dad were sleeping and would even hear him knocking on the door, but he decided he wouldn't find out unless he tried. He raised his hand and delivered three quick knocks. To his surprise, the door opened within a matter of seconds and he saw his brother on the other side looking like he had been crying for a very long time. His eyes were red and poofy and his blonde hair was all over the place unlike the stylish, heavily gelled-look he had when TK first saw him.

When his brother's eyes landed on him, he smiled nervously wondering how Matt would react. Would he be happy he finally came back, or would he be angry and upset for leaving and breaking their promise? There were a couple of silent seconds were his nerves started growing and he wondered if he had made the right choice. But then Matt gave him a huge, relieved smile and threw the door open.

"TK!"

Before he had time to react, Matt was giving him a tight hug. He hugged his brother back, returning the embrace, and it was then that he knew he had made the right choice of coming back.

* * *

They had finally made it to Primary Village. Izzy had supposedly programmed the portal so that when they entered the Digital World they would end up in the village and wouldn't have to travel to get there, but something had gone wrong. Izzy had said the portal more than likely was destroyed when they had fought Machinedramon there the day before, but that didn't make the other's annoyance with the red head stop.

Truth of the matter was that they all were still tired from the previous nights. Who knew that fighting strong, evil digimon for multiple days could really wipe someone out?

TK definitely fit into this boat. His legs were very sluggish making it difficult for him to move them. His chest was still sore from MetalSeadramon's attack, and his shoulder was still bothering him a little. But he didn't care about all of this. They were going to Primary Village and he just might see his partner again! It just would've helped if they didn't have to walk what seemed like fifty miles to get there.

While they were walking, he had received quite a scolding from the other digidestineds for his actions. Tai said that it was very immature for him to have done what he did, but Tai also said he was happy TK had come back this time. Matt had also yelled at him in a similar way this morning, but TK could tell his brother was very happy he was back. Kari was the only one who didn't show him any disapprovement. In fact, the brunette seemed to be avoiding him, but he couldn't blame her. He was sure all of the others had seen her kiss him, and she probably was staying close to Davis to let the goggle-head and the rest of them know she still loved Davis and they were still dating. He didn't mind; she seemed happy at least and no one else seemed to disagree with her, so who was he to be upset with her. If that was what she wanted and it made her happy, then he was happy too.

Another thing had happened too when they were travelling to Primary Village. When they had first arrived in the Digital World they had landed on a beach that had phone booths all over the shore. The older digidestineds were very excited upon seeing the beach, and they had started explaining the siginificance of the place.

_"__Hey guys, look where we landed!" Mimi exclaimed happily as she pointed to the beach._

_The rest of them followed her pointed finger and were greeted by the sight of… telephone booths. The red boxes were lined up all along the shore. _

_"__Hey, I remember this place," Sora said happily._

_"__Do you remember this place Tai?" the little orange dinosaur asked his wild-haired partner._

_"__Of course I do Agumon," Tai replied smiling, "This is where you first digivolved into Greymon!"_

_"__That's why I remember this place," Joe said, "Didn't we spend hours checking these phones?"_

_Izzy laughed, "Yes we did. We were so unintelligible back then…"_

_"__I don't know a word you said Izzy," Kari said laughing. _

_"__What are you guys talking about" Davis spoke up, looking confused._

_"__Yeah, we've never been here before, haven't we?" Yolei asked._

_"__Well, it's been a while now. It was when we first entered the Digital World, what, four years ago now? I think it was our second day in the Digital World. We were lost, confused, and trying to get back to the real world. We saw these telephone booths and tried calling back to our homes…" Tai explained._

_"__And all we got were a bunch of phone operators that wouldn't help us at all," Mimi added in, frowning._

_Tai nodded before continuing, "Well, while we were on the beach we were attacked by a digimon. It was…"_

_"__Shellmon," TK said quietly. _

_Everyone stared at him in shock._

_"__You… you remember this place TK?" Matt asked in shock._

_"… __Yeah, I do," he said, confused. _

They had gone past many other places they had already went by on their first adventures. They passed through an area with a bunch of vending machines all over the place. He had watched Cody run off to check one of them out, but he quickly ran over and pulled the boy away right as a couple of Numemon shot out of the machine. Little things like that had happened where he would see a place and remember what had happened there the last time he had been there. He didn't know how it was happening, but whenever he saw someplace he had been before, he was actually able to remember everything about the place. After they left the place, though, the memories would start to fade away. He could vaguely remember a little bit, but like a footprint in the sand, once he left the place the memory was washed away leaving a dim impression and before long, it was gone.

Being able to remember his past the little bit that he could, though, had restored his hope. Maybe there was a way he could truly regain his memories.

As he looked out over the village with toy blocks stacked up high and its soft, bouncy ground, he remembered the first time he had been there with Patamon. Granted, he was all by himself, but he remembered being really happy being here. He smiled as he saw himself- in his mind- as a little kid bouncing all over the village. Then, as an orange and blue digimon walked up to the group of digidestineds standing together, he remembered the digimon's name was Elecmon. Patamon had almost picked a fight with this digimon, but instead the two had a tug of war game where he was the judge. Patamon had won and because of it Elecmon had decided to trust Patamon and TK and let them help take care of the baby digimon. TK smiled at the memory.

"Hello digidestineds," the electric digimon said with his strange accent.

"Hello Elecmon," they all answered back politely.

"Well, look who we have here. Is that you TK?" Elecmon asked as he locked his eyes with TK's.

"Yupp, it sure is! It's been a while Elecmon!" he said happily.

The digimon nodded, "You got that right. I mean, look at you. The last time I saw you, you were nothing more than a tiny, maybe a little chubby kid. And now look what you've become! I can hardly believe my eyes."

"It's good to see you too Elecmon," TK said smiling.

"But where's Patamon?" Elecmon asked concernedly. The digimon looked around the group and when he didn't see the orange, flying digimon he looked back at TK.

TK put his head down as all the emotions he had felt the previous night returned. All of the hope he had felt a couple of minutes ago was now gone. But then someone put their arm on his shoulder. He turned and looked into his brother's eyes who nodded at him, showing that he had his brother's support.

He looked back to Elecmon and forced a smile, "Well, hopefully he is here somewhere."

"I see," the digimon said sadly, realizing what he was saying. "Well, we did have two new eggs arrive yesterday in the evening. I wouldn't know if any of them were Patamon's egg, though."

He shook his head slowly. Those two eggs were more than likely Machinedramon and LadyDevimon's eggs. Patamon had died late in the night anyways. But he put on a smile and said, "That's ok Elecmon."

All of a sudden they were greeted by a new voice that only TK recognized. He turned and saw Gennai- in his new, younger appearance- smiling at the group of digidestineds.

"Hello digidestineds!"

"Oh my goooosh!" Yolei said in a strange voice, "Who is thiiiis?" she asked.

TK literally facepalmed. Yolei was one of "those" girls; one who suddenly liked every guy that was somewhat decent looking.

Gennai laughed and said, "It's me, Gennai!"

He heard the others gasp around him.

"You can't be Gennai!" Tai snapped back.

"Yeah, Gennai's old and wrinkly and, well, not you," Mimi said shyly.

"I agree! It is impossible for you to be Gennai!" Izzy said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I assure you all that it is me Gennai. Even ask TK?"

They all turned to him and he nodded. "It's true. I saw him last night."

With that, they all turned back and eyed Gennai. They weren't convinced quite yet.

"If you are really Gennai… then.. then what song did you sing for me on my birthday?" Mimi asked.

"Why, happy birthday of course!"

"Rats," Mimi said looking down at the ground.

"Now that you believe me…"

"Wait a second," Matt cut off. TK sighed. This was pointless, but still Matt continued, "Who was the first digimon we had to battle when we first entered the Digital World."

TK was worried for Gennai. He didn't remember that answer, but then again he did have some memory issues.

"When you first came to the Digital World you battled a Kuwagamon. That was when your partner first digivolved into their rookie forms, but there were only seven of you because Kari had stayed back in the real world because she was sick and was not at that summer camp. Then your first major threat you faced was Devimon who used black gears to control digimon. TK and Angemon defeated him, Angemon sacrificing himself in the process. Then you all went to Server where you defeated Etemon, found all of your crests, and followed Myotismon to your world. Once Myotismon was defeated you returned to the Digital World being ruled by the Dark Masters who stayed on Spiral Mountain. Once you defeated the four of them: MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, Machinedramon, and Piedmon- in that order by the way- you battled Apocalymon and defeated him as well. Must I continue?"

The others stood there shocked as they finally realized the young man really was Gennai.

"But… but…" Sora tried, but she couldn't find the words to say. Izzy was the only one who wasn't completely shell shocked by all of this.

"Prodigious! How did you manage this new, and quite younger might I add, appearance, Gennai?"

"Well, honestly I do not know, but it is of no importance right now. I have other things to tell all of you!"

"First off, my thanks and congratulations to all of you for defeating the rest of the Dark Masters as well as Dragomon. Of course, it did not come with some sacrifice," Gennai's eyes landed on him as he said this before continuing, "But you have defeated them. I am afraid, however, that there is more evil to come."

"What do you mean Gennai?" Tai asked.

"I mean there are more evil digimon you all will have to face off against in the near future."

"Why do we always have to be fighting some evil digimon whenever we're in the Digital World?" Joe asked, a little annoyed.

"Yeah, why can't we ever just have fun in the Digital World?" Mimi said, frowning.

"I am afraid to say that the Digital World will always be threatened by some evil. If you haven't noticed, wherever there is light, there is always darkness, a shadow per say. You cannot get rid of darkness, just as you can't get rid of light either."

"What is this new evil, Gennai?" Matt asked.

"Well, there are two you will all have to face. One is an old enemy you have defeated already. The other is a digimon you have not faced before, and I am afraid to say that he and his servants are much stronger than Dragomon and Piedmon and even this old enemy you will have to face. I don't want you all to worry about it; I just want you all to be aware that your work is not finished yet."

Honestly, TK wasn't shocked by the news like the others were. They all were uttering their complaints and bombarding Gennai with question after question, but he understood Gennai. He knew it wouldn't be that simple. He was scared, though, because as of now he was partner-less. How would he possibly be able to fight in this future fights that were sure to ensue with these two evils Gennai was talking about?

"Now, now, I don't have the time or information to answer all of your questions. All I can tell you is what I have! You should not fret over what I have told you! It is your job as digidestineds to protect the Digital World, and I assure you there will always be some force threatening the Digiatl World. But for now, I am telling you to enjoy your victory. You all have done very well; all of you."

With that Gennai addressed Mimi, Willis and Michael telling them that their parents were worried sick about them. He told them what they should say so their parents would believe him, and he also formed two of the televisions that acted as portals to the real world. He indicated which one would lead to New York and which one would lead to Odaiba. After he had done that, he told the digidestineds good-bye before vanishing just like he had last night.

After that, Mimi said something about having to get back to the real world to go see her parents. She said that it was just because she didn't want her parents to worry anymore than what they were already, but he could tell that she also missed her parents very much. And he couldn't blame her for it. He had woken up and saw his father leave for work this morning yet he already missed his dad. And… he also missed his mom.

So Mimi, Michael, and Willis all said their good-byes to the others before raising their digivices and going through the portal back to the real world. After they had gone, Tai decided that they all should return back to the real world. Everyone agreed giving their own reasons. Sora, Tai, and Izzy said they had loads of homework to catch up on after missing multiple days at school, and upon mentioning homework Joe basically had a panic attack and left right then and there yelling something about a medical exam. Davis, Kari, Yolei, and Cody also used that excuse and headed back to the real world through the portal the New Yorkers didn't use. Soon, the only ones left in the Digital World were TK and Matt, and all of the digidestineds' partners- they were going to stay in the Digital World saying they were finally going to get a peaceful night's sleep in their home for once, which made sense to TK.

"Well, should we head back, TK?" Matt asked.

TK shook his head. "You go ahead Matt, but I gotta stay. I have to look around for Patamon."

"TK…" Matt started, but TK cut him off.

"Matt, I know Patamon probably won't come back; I heard Gennai tell me that last night. But I have to at least look. Go on; the Digital World is safe for now, you heard Gennai. Besides, all of the digimon are staying here so they will protect me if anything bad happens."

Matt looked like he was about to yell at him, but Matt took a deep breath and said, "Promise you'll be back?"

TK nodded, "I promise. I'll see you no later than night time."

Matt nodded and quickly went through the portal. TK was relieved. He had been growing quite restless listening to Gennai talk about these 'new evils.' Now, though, everyone was gone and he was here in Primary Village, the place where Patamon was, hopefully.

"Do you want me to help you look for Patamon, TK?" a raspy voice asked. TK turned quickly, but saw it was just Elecmon. He had almost forgotten about the orange and blue digimon.

"Sure, thanks Elecmon."

Elecmon nodded before turning and leading him through Primary Village. Elecmon asked him about the Digimon Emperor and he told the digimon all that had happened, at least as much as he could remember of it. Elecmon seemed more than happy that the Digimon Emperor was finished.

"I was worried he was going to come after Primary Village. Could you imagine someone as evil as the Digimon Emperor causing harm to all these babies?"

TK looked up and saw hundreds of tiny cribs scattered amongst the village. There also were little balls of various colors all over. As he walked closer he realized they were actually eggs, digi-eggs Elecmon had told him though to TK they looked more like easter eggs. He also heard crying coming from all around at which Elecmon instantly ran off and picked up the crying, baby digimon in his arms and rocked the baby until the digimon stopped crying and then Elecmon ran off to another crib. It didn't look like Elecmon was going to be helping him find Patamon's egg.

There seemed to be an endless amount of these digi-eggs all over and he had no idea what Patamon's egg even looked like. He hated to admit it, but even if Patamon had been able to return as an egg it seemed highly unlikely he'd be able to find him.

_"__Don't lose hope in me TK!" _he heard an all-too-familiar voice say. The voice came from inside his head. Had he imagined it, or did he really hear it?

"Patamon?" he asked. He waited, listening for an answer.

_"__TK… TK…" _the voice said sounding as if it were going farther away. He was sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him now, and he followed the voice as it continued, _"TK… TK…"_

He followed the voice for a good five minutes before it stopped moving away from him. TK looked around him and he searched the eggs surrounding him. As he looked at the various eggs, one seemed to stick out to him. It was a white egg with orange stripes going down the egg. He closed his eyes as he remembered the egg. He had seen this egg in one of his dream/memories when Angemon sacrificed himself to defeat Devimon. He watched the white feathers fall right in front of him before glowing and turning into a white digi-egg with orange stripes going down it.

He opened his eyes smiling a big smile. He ran to the digi-egg and picked it up, hugging the egg close to him.

_"__TK, I knew you could find me," _he heard Patamon's voice say inside his mind.

He had done it! Patamon had returned and he had found Patamon's egg! He was going to have his partner back! A few tears fell down his cheek, but these tears didn't make him mad. These were tears of happiness, and as far as he was concernced he was one-hundred percent ok with them.

"I'm happy you found your partner."

He winced at the voice. He knew it too well, and he wasn't exactly happy to hear it. He turned around and his suspicions were confirmed. Ken was standing in front of him holding an egg as well.

"Ken," he said, not hiding a hint of disgust in his voice. He wasn't sure what Ken wanted right then. He didn't seem to be evil anymore, but he had been the Digimon Emperor. He had done terrible things to him, his friends, and to the digimon.

"I know you have no reason to trust me, and I wouldn't blame you if you beat me to a pulp right now like you were doing back at Toy Town. But I have something to tell you."

"Go on," TK said slowly, holding his partner's egg protectively.

"I just wanted to tell you that I am sorry for all that I have done as the Digimon Emperor. What I did was… beyond terrible. I tortured digimon, I hurt you and your friends, and I even caused my own digimon partner to die. My actions as the Digimon Emperor were unforgivable, and I don't expect you to forgive me… but… I have to tell you that I am sorry. If there is any way I could make it up to you or your friends…"

"Ken, you are right. What you did was terrible…"

At this Ken looked down to his feet frowning.

"But," he continued, "You are wrong about something; your actions are not unforgivable. I am not playing down the severity of what you have done, because you really did do awful stuff, but I think you can be forgiven. I mean, no one is perfect Ken. We all make our mistakes, but it is what we do after we've made those mistakes that shows us who we really are. It isn't going to be easy to find forgiveness from other people, but I think you are taking the right first step."

Ken looked back up at him and TK smiled at the violet haired boy. Ken hesitantly smiled back before saying, "Thanks TK."

Ken turned back and started walking away.

"Hey Ken," he called out causing Ken to stop and turn around, "One more thing. I heard what you did with opening up a portal to the Dark Ocean which allowed the others to come save me. Thank you for doing that."

"It's the least I could do," Ken replied before turning back and around and continuing his walk, holding onto what TK guessed was Wormon's egg. He sighed as he watched Ken walk away for a little bit. He then started walking back through the village back to where the two portals were. As he did so he heard Patamon's voice inside his head.

_"__TK, I'm so proud of you. You didn't have to do what you did. You could've yelled at Ken and ruined any chance he had at trying to make up for his actions, but instead you gave him hope; hope that he could actually be forgiven and amend his actions. I'm so happy you're my partner."_

_"__I'm happy you're my partner too, Pata. I don't know what I'd do without you."_

With that, TK felt something he hadn't felt in a long time; in fact, he wasn't sure he had felt it at all. For once, he felt what it was like to be happy, truly happy. Although he didn't know what the future held for him- and he was sure it wasn't going to be easy, what, with these two new evils and his memory problem- he knew he didn't have anything to worry about. He had his friends back, he had his family back, and he had his partner back, and together they were going to face whatever came across their path.

-The End-

* * *

Ok, so this was the last chapter! I listened to all the reviews saying you all wanted a happy ending, so I hope this is a happy enough ending for you. I couldn't kill off Patamon for good because then that would one-hundred percent thwart any chance of there being a sequel... unless... *lightbulb*. I just might have to make an alternate ending to this!

But yeah, this was the end of Lost Hope! This was a very long ride, but it was very fun as well. I believe my writing got better as the story went on and I know not every chapter was very well written and I wish I could go back and redo these chapters, but for now I'm going to leave them as they are.

I know most of you do not necessarily care, but I feel like writing this because I am just surprised by this fact. I wrote this story as an entire word document and it was 316 typed pages, single spaced with 12 pt. font. The word count- not including these dumb author notes- was 137,824! HOLY CRAP! If only I could write this many words for my Comp. papers haha.

Also, I want to thank all of the reviewers. I would list all of those who reviewed and tell you all individually how much I appreciate each and every review, but that would take much too long and you all wouldn't really care or enjoy all that, so I won't do it. Instead, I'll just leave this: ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE REVIWED: You guys are THEE BEST! Not just the best, THEE BEST! Like seriously, there have been so many times I wanted to stop writing this story, but the reviewers made me keep writing. Every "I can't wait for the next update" motivated me more and more to finish this story. You guys are the reason I was able to finish this story, and I thank you all very much!

But for now, this is the end of my writing. This story took a very long time to write, and I'm going to be going into college this upcoming year and I'm going to get very busy. I do have plans and ideas for a possible sequel as well as a possible alternate ending and maybe a sequel based on the alternate ending (referring to the "*lightbulb*" up above) and I even have an idea for a story that doesn't involve any digimon at all... but one thing this story has showed me is: if you want to write a fanfiction, PLAN it out beforehand. This is why before I write anything else, I am going to plan the story out and have some of the chapters written out before posting it up. What I'm trying to say is this is my last bit of writing probably for a good while, and I'm not even sure I'll write again. But I love digimon and that will never leave so I probably will write some more, it just might take a while.

And I almost forgot something! For any of you who are Takari fans, which I know some of you are, I highly encourage you to read my only other finished story called "Torn." It has received positive reviews and all those who reviewed really enjoyed it! It didn't get as many views as this story, but it is still an ok story and it is a Takari so that's good! haha.

Until then, THANK YOU ALL for reading this story through to the end! I hope you leave a review(PLEASE REVIEW, PLEASE) and let me know what you think of... well, about anything and everything. If you have any questions about this chapter or any other parts of the story please leave me a PM or post it in a review if you wish, though that would make it hard for me to get back to you with an answer as this is the last chapter. But, I guess this is good-bye... until I write again, that is! :D


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